


Will You Still Love Me?

by RyspositoWritings



Category: Castle
Genre: Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Not necessarily an au but au enough to mention, Old Married Couple, Universe Alterations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:32:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4907329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyspositoWritings/pseuds/RyspositoWritings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin and Javier have been married for sixteen years. Between their kids and work, they still find the time to remind each other they love each other and always will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The kids are my own creation.

 

 

 

__

 

_“_ _Hey, Javi. When I’m fifty years old with graying hair and wrinkles, will you still love me?”_

__

_“Of course.”_

__

_“Even when our kids are being particularly difficult?”_

__

_“Even when they’re being little shits, yes.”_

__

_“What about when we’re fighting?”_

__

_“Even then.”_

__

_“Even when I’m on every medication known to man and I’ll need to be taken to doctor appointments?”_

__

_“If in the event you have terrible health problems, I will still love you.”_

__

_“No matter what?”_

__

_“Kevin, when we’re fifty and old and wrinkled, I will still love you. When we’re seventy and have every health problem known to man, I will still love you. When we’re ninety and can’t even walk up a flight of stairs anymore, I will still love you. No matter what happens, no matter where we go, no matter what we have to face, I will always love you. Forever.”_

__

_“Javi?”_

__

_“Yeah?”_

_**  
**“I’ll always love you too.”_


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of Javier Esposito’s alarm clock jerked him awake. He groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head to drown out the sound. He felt the pressure of someone leaning over him and a second later the sound stopped. He would have gladly fallen back asleep, but he wasn’t given a choice as the same person who’d leaned over him to turn off the alarm was gently pulling the pillow away from his face.

“Javi.” Ryan said softly, leaning down close to his ear.

Esposito groaned and cracked one eye open, peering at his husband in the low light as the sun was still working on rising.

“Do we have to do this every morning?” Ryan asked, his voice still low and rough from sleep.

Esposito reached a hand up to pull Ryan closer. “Yes.” He said, just before capturing his lips in a kiss.

Ryan pulled away and smiled. “You’ll be late again.”

“I’m sure Captain Beckett will understand.” He pulled Ryan back down, but was only able to kiss him for so long before he pulled away.

“Just because you’re best friends with the captain and you’re lead detective doesn’t mean you can make your own hours.” Ryan kissed him on the nose. “Go take a shower. I’ll go wake up the troops.”

Esposito watched him hop out of bed and took a second to admire his boxer-clad body. Even in his fifties, Ryan still looked great. Gray hair at the temples, and of course those adorable crows feet that had become more prominent over the years. In Esposito’s eyes, Ryan was still as beautiful as ever.

Of course, Esposito was not without his own signs of aging. Flecks of silver in his hair and beard and his own set of wrinkles. But Ryan continued to reassure him he looked as handsome as ever, and that was enough for him.

Ryan threw his robe around his shoulders and tied it closed. He turned to his husband of over sixteen years. “Get going.” He said with a smile before disappearing down the hall.

Esposito was more than happy to be showering instead of taking on the task of waking their kids. Ryan did it every morning and honestly Esposito was happy to let him do it, living in fear that one day Ryan would make him do it instead.

Ryan turned on the lights in the hall and opened the door of his first victim. It was easier going for the youngest first. The child might be less coherent in the mornings, but Ryan was met with a lot less resistance from him.

“Xavier.” Ryan said softly, entering the room.

His ten year old son was curled up like a cat under his mountain of pillows and blankets the boy insisted he needed. Every year for holidays and birthdays since he was five, he’d requested another pillow. The kid slept like a king.

And what would a king be without his royal subjects?

Ryan moved the royal teddy bear and tiger to reveal the messy bed head underneath. “Xavier.” He said again, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting a hand to his son’s head. “It’s time for school.”

The lump of pillows and stuffed animals moved and a single brown eye opened.

“Five more minutes?” Xavier mumbled.

“I would love to give you five more minutes, but Papa already requested them and I have no more minutes to give.” Ryan stood. “Hurry up, you can’t miss the bus today. Papa and I both have to work this morning.”

Ryan waited until Xavier was sitting up and at least halfway coherent before moving on to the next one.

Liam was a bit harder. The kid was turning fourteen in a month, and he showed it. He slept more than the average sloth, which was saying a lot, and ate like a lion.

Ryan stepped into his room and kicked away a pile of clothes on the floor. He sighed. It was true Ryan didn’t do laundry that often, but would it kill the kid to put his clothes in a hamper? He reached over and switched on the light, trying not to laugh as his son tried to burrow deeper inside his bed, his blond hair poking out at the top.

“Your bed can’t save you now.” Ryan said. “School is gonna find you no matter what.”

“Can’t I stay home today?” Liam groaned, his voice barely audible under the blanket.

“Are you sick?”

“...maybe.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Tell you what, if you puke, I’ll let you stay home.”

There was no movement.

“Come on, Liam.” Ryan said, stepping further into the room. “I know you hate school, but I can’t let you stay home every day. Your education is important. And besides that, some of your teachers are wondering what you look like. They’ve never seen you.”

More silence.

Ryan sat down on the bed and ran his hands through his son’s hair. “Okay, look.” He said softly. “If it gets to be too much again, you can text me and I’ll pick you up.”

Liam poked his head out of the blanket and lifted light blue puppy dog eyes to his dad. “You promise?” He asked.

Ryan had never been able to resist that look. “I promise.” He confirmed. “But I need you to promise me you’ll really try to make it through the day this time.”

Liam hesitated before nodding.

“That’s my boy.” Ryan said, smiling. He stood. “Get ready quick and maybe we can convince Papa to make waffles.”

Liam’s eyes lit up at that and he pulled himself the rest of the way out of bed.

Convinced his son was going to need no further assistance, Ryan moved on to the real challenge.

She was sixteen years old, she needed her sleep, but for some reason the school system refused to let her have it. They also didn’t take into account the pain they were inflicting on the parents as well as the kids. If Ryan could’ve, he would have homeschooled all his kids and to hell with the public school system. But kids were expensive and they couldn’t live on a cop’s salary alone.

Ryan slowly opened the door to his daughter’s room and then switched on the light.

All she offered was a long groan and a muffled “Go away.”

“Carmen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Ryan said. “But either way, you have limited time before school starts. You can either use that time to get ready and go to school looking like you’re taken care of, or you can sleep and go to school looking like we make you sleep outside in a dumpster. Your choice, but I really don’t know why I spend all that money on makeup if you’re not gonna use it.”

Carmen lifted her head and turned murderous brown eyes to her father, her long dark hair tangled and practically everywhere.

After years of this look, Ryan was basically immune. All he did was fold his arms and stare her down until she let out a frustrated noise.

“Ugh, okay fine, but you have to get out of my room so I can put on my clothes.”

Ryan gave her a half smile and then left, shutting her door as he did so. He walked past Liam’s door and heard rustling, which meant the boy was working on getting ready, and then walked past Xavier’s room as well. He peered inside after hearing nothing and almost laughed out loud when he saw his youngest child half asleep trying to put socks on while sitting on the floor in his underwear.

Ryan stepped into the room and knelt down. “You have to put on regular clothes before shoes and socks, little man.” He said.

Xavier looked down at his socks confused.

“I think your bedtime needs to be earlier.” Ryan reached over and helped his son stand. “Can you handle the rest on your own?” He asked.

Looking a little more awake now, Xavier nodded.

“Okay, I’m gonna go check on Papa.” Ryan left his son to his zombie dressing and stepped back into his own room.

Esposito had finished his shower and was already dressed for work, his badge around his neck. He was in the process of brushing his teeth when Ryan returned. He spit into the sink. “How’d it go out there?” He asked.

“They’re all up and getting ready. I think.” He stepped over to give Esposito a kiss. “I told Liam you’d make waffles this morning.”

“Is he gonna go today?”

Ryan nodded. “But I gave him the option to leave early if he needs to.”

“Kev, you’ve gotta stop babying him.” Esposito said. “He needs to go to school.”

Ryan sighed. “I know, it’s just extra hard for him. The noise gets to be too much and everything just overwhelms him. And, really, despite all that, he’s not failing a single class. I think giving him some slack isn’t going to do any damage. He’s not like other kids, Javi. He needs more slack.”

“I know.” Esposito reached down and intertwined their fingers. “I just wish…”

“You wish we could have gotten him as a baby instead of a four year old.” Ryan nodded his agreement.

“Well who the hell knows what they did to him at that foster home?” Esposito said angrily. “Those people sucked. If he hadn’t been there, he might not be…”

“Well, there’s really no way to know that.” Ryan reasoned. “The good thing is we got him out of there, right? And so what if he needs special attention? Who better to give it to him than us?”

They’d had this conversation more than once. The first day was of course the day they met the little quiet blond boy who looked like a scared rabbit. But, of course, they knew they were going to love him the second they saw him. There really was no question of if they were going to adopt Liam.

And now, ten years later, they knew they’d made the right choice.

Ryan kissed Esposito again. “I’m gonna take a shower.” He said softly. “Get some hot water before Carmen takes it all.”

“You know, I don’t think I’m completely clean.” Esposito replied, pulling Ryan closer so he couldn’t get to the shower. “I might have to join you.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You have to go make breakfast for your children.”

Esposito leaned down and gave him a lazy kiss. “They can eat poptarts.” He murmured against his lips.

“You and I both know poptarts aren’t even remotely healthy.” Ryan said softly.

“Dad! Xavier stole my hairbrush again!”

Ryan and Esposito sighed together and Ryan pulled away.

“Your turn.” He said before taking off his robe and turning on the water.

Esposito turned for the door. “Catching criminals was easier.” He muttered.

“You know you love them!” Ryan called after him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Esposito said, but he smiled. He did love his dumb kids, there was no doubt. “Alright, what’s the problem?” He said when he entered the hallway.

“Xavier took my hairbrush and he won’t give it back.” Carmen said angrily folding her arms and glaring at the ten year old who’d taken refuge on the ledge above the stairs.

“Xavier, get the hell down from there.” Esposito scolded, stepping over to help his spidermonkey of a son from injuring himself. “Why do you need Carmen’s hairbrush? You already have one.”

Try as they might, Ryan and Esposito could not get Xavier to cut his hair. They begged, pleaded, and bribed, but the most they could do was get it styled so he looked at least somewhat presentable. And, of course, long hair needed a hairbrush… which he had.

“I can’t find it.” Xavier said.

“Okay, well, you can’t just take someone’s hairbrush because you can’t find your’s. When Dad gets out of the shower, ask if you can borrow his.” He took the hairbrush from Xavier and handed it to Carmen. “Carmen, why aren’t you dressed yet?”

“Liam won’t get out of the fucking bathroom.” She responded.

“You better watch that mouth.” Esposito said. He stepped over to the door and knocked on it softly. “Hurry it up, Liam!” He called.

“God, can’t a guy take a piss without everyone jumping down his throat?” Liam called back.

Esposito sighed. “He’ll be out in a minute, Carmen. Come on, Xavier. Help me make waffles.”

“Ooh!” Xavier all but sprinted down the stairs and Esposito followed closely behind. Xavier was a rather active ten year old, but Esposito spent a lot of time chasing criminals, so it wasn’t too difficult to keep up with him.

By the time Esposito made it to the kitchen, Xavier had pulled out half the ingredients for the waffles. He’d made them with his Papa enough times to know the recipe practically by heart.

“Papa, can we put chocolate chips in the waffles?” Xavier asked as he tried to heave the bag of flour out of the pantry.

Esposito stepped over and took the bag from him. “Yeah, alright. Not too many, though. Breakfast is supposed to be healthy. Or so I’ve been told.”

They made quick work of putting the ingredients together and were just pouring the first bit of batter onto the waffle iron when they heard Liam coming down the stairs.

“The first waffle will be done in a second, Liam, why don’t you grab the syrup and whatever else you think would be a good topping.” Esposito looked over at Xavier. “And only a little whipped cream this time. I’m not sending you to school on another sugar high.”

Esposito was able to make three more waffles and get some coffee started when Ryan came down the stairs in another of his snappy suits. Esposito whistled appreciatively and Ryan stepped over to give him a kiss.

“Grab a waffle, corazón. Your sons have already started.” Esposito said, pulling another waffle off the iron.

Xavier and Liam were sitting at the table eating their chocolate chip waffles, Xavier with a mountain of whipped cream he’d sneaked without Esposito noticing.

Ryan grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee before stepping back over to his husband and watching him finish the last waffle. “These look great.” He said, setting down his mug and grabbing a plate.

Esposito grabbed his own plate and the two of them added their toppings before stepping over to the table to join their boys.

The four of them ate in companionable silence while they waited for Carmen to come down so they could all get going. If she came down in the next five minutes, she would for sure have enough time to eat before going out the door. But that was wishful thinking. There was only one time in recorded history that Carmen had had enough time to eat breakfast and it was the morning of her first day of preschool.

They finished their food and rinsed off their plates and needed to leave in five minutes.

“Carmen!” Esposito called up the stairs.

“Give me a minute!” She called back, frustration evident in her voice.

Ryan handed the boys their lunches and handed Xavier his hairbrush, then smiled over at Esposito who was looking more and more pissed off at his daughter.

“Liam isn’t going to drive himself to school!” Esposito called up.

“I said give me a minute!” Carmen called back.

“And I’m saying get down here now!” Esposito replied. “We’re all waiting for you!”

They heard her growl in frustration before finally seeing her run down the stairs. She gave Esposito a look before grabbing the keys to her second-hand car Castle had given her for her birthday.

“Let’s go.” She said to Liam angrily.

Liam went ahead of her out the door, his head hanging slightly.

“Hey.” Ryan grabbed Carmen’s upper arm before she left. “It’s not his fault we need you to take him to school in the morning, so don’t make it a thing, okay?”

“I know, Dad.” Carmen said, her anger dissipating slightly.

“Just making sure.” Ryan said. “You’ve got money for lunch?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” He handed her a waffle that had been separated into four sections and wrapped in a paper towel. “Waffle on the go.” He said. “See you after school.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and she gave him a small smile before turning and leaving.

Esposito grabbed his own keys and coat before pulling Ryan in for a kiss. “I’ll see you after work. Why is Castle making you come in today?”

Ryan shrugged. “He’s not really. He just pays me a stupid amount of money to do nothing, and I need to feel like I’m doing something with my life, you know?”

“Okay, well don’t work too hard.”

“Castle and I never do much work anyway.” He pulled Esposito down for another kiss before Esposito too was walking out the door.

“Bye, Papa!” Xavier said, waving to Esposito.

“See ya after school, kid.” Esposito smiled and then shut the door.

“Okay,” Ryan said, stepping back into the kitchen. “Let’s clean this up and then it’ll be time to walk down to the bus stop.”

Xavier was the only one who took the bus. After Carmen got a car, she vowed to never take the bus again. And, after many tears and pleading, she was also tasked with taking Liam to school. Among the most overwhelming things Liam had to deal with, the bus was the worst. Ryan and Esposito had to reason with Carmen that it really wasn’t that big of a deal, and wouldn’t even be that extra on gas. She finally agreed after her dads bribed her with gas money.

But Xavier was different. It may have been that all his friends rode the bus, but he loved it. And that, of course, took off some of the weight from everyone’s shoulders.

When the waffle mess had been cleaned and the dishes were all rinsed off and in the sink waiting to be washed after work and school, Ryan and Xavier set off for the bus stop around the corner.

“Dad?” Xavier asked after a minute.

“Mmhm?”

“Do you love Papa?”

“Of course.”

“Like a lot?”

Ryan chuckled. “Yeah, like a lot.”

“And you would never want to leave him?”

“Woah. Okay, where is this coming from?”

Xavier was quiet for a minute. “My friend Alice.” He said softly. “She said her parents are splitting up.” He shrugged. “I guess she didn’t realize anything was wrong until one day her dad left. She said she’s only going to get to see him on the weekends.”

Ryan paused. “Well, Xavier.” He said softly. “I can promise you your Papa and I love each other very much. And if we’d wanted to split up, we would have done it a long time ago. As of right now, neither of us have any desire to split up.”

“You’re sure?” Xavier asked.

“Positive.” Ryan nodded. “I don’t even remember the last time we fought.”

“I do.” Xavier said. “Last month when you made Papa sleep on the couch and wouldn’t speak to him for three days.”

“Oh yeah.” Damn kids noticing everything. Ryan cleared his throat. “Well, we have disagreements sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other. And, besides, he made it up to me and everything was okay.”

“Is that why we heard you guys laughing and you wouldn’t let us in your room?”

“Okay, I don’t think we need all the details here.” Ryan said, stopping this before it could turn into an impromptu sex talk. “Bottom line is your Papa and I are in it for the long haul. I’m not leaving and Papa’s not leaving. The plan at this point is to grow old together.”

“Okay.” Xavier smiled, satisfied, and then noticed the bus coming around the corner. “I gotta go, dad!”

“Have a good day at school!” Ryan called after him as he sprinted to the corner.

He climbed onto the bus and waved through the window as the bus pulled away. Ryan waved back until the bus rounded the corner and then headed back to the house. He technically wasn’t on a time crunch, Castle probably wasn’t even expecting him, but he really wanted to get there and out of the house today.

~.~.~

_“He’s so small.” Liam said, poking his head over his dad’s shoulder to stare at the bundle in his arms._

__

_Ryan smiled, never taking his eyes off the child cradled close to his chest. “He was only born yesterday, Liam.” He said softly. “Babies are small when they’re newborns.”_

__

_“Do you think I was that small?” Liam asked._

__

_“Smaller.” Ryan replied. “They told us you were five weeks premature, which means you came out a little early. The earlier you come, the smaller you are.”_

__

_“But this little guy came right on time.” Esposito said, crouched down by the arm of the chair Ryan was in. “Kind of big for his age, really.”_

__

_“Can I hold him?” Carmen asked eagerly._

__

_“Okay, but you have to be very careful.” Ryan said. “You and Liam go sit on the couch and you can each take a turn.”_

__

_Carmen and Liam ran to the couch and sat, fidgeting slightly at the excitement._

__

_Esposito leaned down to take the baby from Ryan so he could pass him on to their other two kids._

__

_“Watch his head.” Ryan said softly._

__

_“I know.” Esposito smiled at his husband. “I’ve also done this before, you know.”_

__

_Ryan stood and followed Esposito to the couch to watch his kids hold their little brother for the first time._

__

_“Okay, you guys have to stop wiggling.” Esposito said, still holding the baby. “Babies aren’t footballs.”_

__

_The two kids instantly stopped moving and looked sweetly up at their dad to prove they were nice gentle children. Neither Ryan nor Esposito were fooled, but they knew their kids would be soft enough._

__

_Esposito leaned down and placed the baby in Carmen’s arms first. He fussed only a little at being jostled but eventually settled down enough to continue sleeping._

__

_“He smells good.” Carmen said._

__

_“For now.” Ryan said, laughing._

_“That is your department.” Esposito declared._

__

_“I will physically fight you on that.” Ryan replied._

__

_“Fifty-fifty?”_

__

_“Deal.”_

__

_“Okay, I want to hold him now!” Liam said, clearly getting bored with just sitting there._

__

_“Sit still, Liam.” Ryan said. “You only get a turn if you can sit still.”_

__

_Liam stopped moving around instantly and waited patiently for Esposito to reach down and transfer the baby from Carmen to him. He sat very still and quiet, looking mesmerized by the bundle in his arms._

__

_“He soft.” Liam murmured. He looked up and smiled. “I like him.”_

__

_Ryan laughed. “Well, that’s good to hear since he’s gonna be here for a very long time.”_

__

_Just as Liam started to get fidgety again, the doorbell rang._

__

_“That’ll be the Castles.” Ryan said. He ran off to answer the door while Esposito leaned down to take the baby from Liam’s arms before the boy got too excited. “Hey guys!”_

__

_Castle and Beckett greeted Ryan with hugs and congratulations._

__

_“We got him a gift.” Castle said, holding out the little blue gift bag._

__

_“Thanks, guys.” Ryan said, reaching in and pulling out a onesie that said “WRITER” on the front. “Oh, good!” He said, giving Castle a smile. “Now we have three of these.”_

__

_Castle had given Carmen one the day she was born, bought a t shirt for Liam the day he was adopted, and now their new baby had one. Honestly, Ryan should have expected it._

__

_“Uncle Rick!” Carmen said, running to the door to give him and her Aunt Kate a hug._

__

_“Hey!” Castle leaned down to give her a hug and then pulled Liam up into his arms. “How are my favorite god-children?”_

__

_“We have a new brother.” Liam announced._

__

_Castle gasped theatrically. “You do?”_

__

_That was Esposito’s cue to bring the baby to the door. “Hey, guys.” He said, stepping close so they could get a good look._

__

_“Oh my god, he’s adorable.” Beckett cooed, smiling down at the baby._

__

_Castle set Liam down to free his hands. “I think Uncle Rick needs a turn to hold the baby.” He said, holding his arms out._

__

_Esposito carefully placed the baby in his arms and then smiled as Castle immediately lit up. Castle was the baby master and still insisted they call him the Baby Whisperer. His love for children never faded in all the years they’d known him._

__

_“Where’s Jo?” Ryan asked Beckett as Castle cooed at the baby._

__

_“Dance class.” Beckett replied. “We told her she could meet the baby later.”_

__

_The subject of Castle and Beckett having a baby was touch and go for a long time. Beckett had been clear that she didn’t really want kids, which Castle had been okay with for a while, but over time Beckett could feel how sad he was about it. In the end, once she was fully comfortable in her career and had thought long and hard about it, she decided to give him a baby on the condition that he be the stay-at-home parent. Castle was more than happy to oblige and, nine months later, one year after Ryan and Esposito had Carmen, Johanna Beckett-Castle was born._

__

_Beckett, being the woman that she was, had returned to work almost immediately after, and Castle had been more than happy to be a daddy again. Ryan and Esposito were thrilled Carmen could have a childhood friend._

__

_“You want to hold him?” Castle asked Beckett._

__

_She smiled and nodded. She still wasn’t the Baby Whisperer Castle was, but she could appreciate a newborn baby as much as the next person._

__

_“Ooh, he’s opening his eyes!” Castle said as he looked at the baby over his wife’s shoulder._

__

_Carmen was just tall enough to see but Ryan had to pick Liam up. The baby was only waking up from his nap, but it was strangely too cute to miss._

__

_He opened his eyes and looked around at all the faces staring at him, a confused but curious expression on his face._

__

_“Aww, Ryan, he has your eyes.” Castle said jokingly, as there was no way their adopted son could look like either of them._

__

_“A lot of babies have Ryan’s eyes.” Esposito said. “Baby Blue here just never grew out of them.”_

__

_“Shut up.” Ryan said, but he smiled._

__

_“Will they always be blue, Papa?” Liam asked._

__

_“Not likely.” Esposito replied. “His biological mom is white, but his biological dad is like me and Carmen, so his eyes will probably get darker soon.”_

__

_They all continued watching the baby as his eyes started to droop again._

__

_“So what are you going to call him?” Beckett asked softly as he started to drift off to sleep._

__

_“I think we’re gonna go with Xavier.” Esposito replied._

__

_“Xavier.” Castle repeated. “I like that.”_

__

_They watched as the baby fell completely asleep again._

__

_“Hey, daddy.” Liam said after a while. “I’m hungry.”_

_**  
** “Ooh, lunch is on me!” Castle said. “We need to celebrate the new addition to our family!”_


	3. Chapter 3

“Morning, Castle.” Ryan said as he stepped into the office.

  
“Ryan!” Castle said, surprised to see him. “I didn’t know you were coming in today.”

“I have to work sometime.” Ryan said, sitting down at his own desk. “You can’t just pay me to do nothing.”

“Of course I can.” Castle smiled.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Okay, well, I don’t like getting paid to do nothing.”

Castle shrugged. “Well, it’s a slow day, so there’s really nothing to do here either.” He leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

The man was really getting on in years. They hadn’t really realized how much older he was than Beckett, but once the gray hair started to come in, it was pretty obvious. That wasn’t to say Castle hadn’t retained his looks. The man was still ruggedly handsome, he was just also almost sixty.

“Well then I guess we’ll just have to hang out here all day.” Ryan said. “We could maybe file some of the cases you’ve had since you started this thing.”

“You want to do busy work?” Castle asked.

Ryan chuckled. “Castle, when I was still a detective, most of my life was busy work. I filed more cases than you’ve got in this file cabinet alone.”

It was true, they hardly did anything. In fact, it used to be that most of their time was spent at the precinct. Castle took up the PI thing so he could continue to work cases at the precinct, and Ryan working with him just meant he also worked cases at the precinct. But lately Castle had been spending his days in his office with all his gadgets, writing.

The Nikki Heat novels had finally ended and he’d written two more series’ since then, one series about two male detectives who fell in love on the job and never looked back. That particular series got a lot of flack, people being outraged that it was about a gay couple, but Castle stuck to his guns. He often explained in interviews that if he can write graphic murder scenes and everyone is okay with it, then a gay kiss shouldn’t be so appalling.

That series ended up being one of his most popular.

Working with Castle also freed up Ryan’s time so he could be there for his kids. All three of them practically grew up in this office.

It ended up being hours of silence, only the sound of Castle typing and Ryan filing could be heard. They were both so engrossed in what they were doing, they hardly noticed when noon rolled around.

“You want lunch, Ryan?” Castle asked.

Ryan looked up at the clock. “Shit, have I been filing this whole time? I can’t tell if that’s a statement of how many files you have or how slow I am.”

“Both.” Castle chuckled. “You really didn’t need to do it, though.”

“Organizing cases is important Castle.” Ryan said. “I’m honestly surprised we lasted this long without Alexis filing for us.”

“Yeah, well, if she wants to go off and get married and only see her old dad on holidays, then there’s nothing I can do about it.” Castle said dramatically.

“Castle, she lives an hour away.” Ryan rolled his eyes.

Castle changed the subject. “So, about lunch.” He stood. “What do you say we go grab a couple sandwiches and then come back here and play lazer tag?”

“Lazer tag?” Ryan asked, standing as well and following Castle out of the office. “You think you can handle that in your old age?”

“I’m not that old.” Castle protested, locking the door behind him and leading the way out of the building.

“Not from where I’m standing.” Ryan said softly but loud enough for Castle to hear and feign offence.

They weren’t gone for very long, just long enough to grab the food and some coffee before heading back to the office. It was, however, long enough for something to happen.

Of course Ryan had left his phone in the office. The one time he didn’t have it on him. Once they got back, he had three messages. One from Liam’s school and two from Esposito.

“Shit.” Ryan said picking up the phone and listening to his messages.

“Everything alright?” Castle asked as Ryan’s face changed from surprised to slightly angry.

“Uh, no.” Ryan said in answer to Castle’s question. “Liam got into a fight at school.”

“Liam?” Castle asked. “Timid, shy Liam?”

“That’s the one.” Ryan confirmed. He checked to make sure he had his wallet and keys before turning apologetic eyes to Castle. “I’m gonna have to take a raincheck on lunch, Castle. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Castle waved it away. “Go make sure Liam’s okay. And, here.” He held out Ryan’s sandwich. “Eat this on the way.”

“Thanks, Castle.” Ryan said, shoving the sandwich in his coat pocket. “I’ll be back tomorrow to finish the files.”

“Even if you’re not, I’ll understand.”

Ryan gave him a look. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Castle.”

As he settled into his car and pulled out into traffic, he couldn’t get Esposito’s last message out of his head. The first was just to inform him what happened, but the second came off completely different. Well, since no one can get ahold of you, I’m gonna have to go down there. Meet me there if you can be bothered.

He couldn’t get it out of his head and, by the time he pulled up to the school, he was half ready to give Esposito a piece of his mind.

As he walked up to the front doors, he saw Esposito waiting there looking angry.

“There you are.” He said.

“What happened?” Ryan asked, not really in the mood to get into a fight in the front of his son’s school.

“Where were you? The school called me away from a really important case. Why wouldn't you answer your phone?”

“Jesus, Espo.” Ryan ran a hand over his face. “I left my phone in the office while Castle and I ran out to grab something to eat. We were gone for less than twenty minutes.”

“Why the hell didn’t you take your phone with you?”

“Well, it’s not like I expected Liam to get in a fight, did I?”

“You should always have your phone on you.”

“You know what, Javi? I’m not doing this with you right now. Liam’s probably in there scared out of his mind. I’m gonna go make sure he’s alright. If you want to stay out here and bitch about how your son’s well-being isn’t as important and your case, then go right ahead.” He glared at him before opening the door.

Esposito gritted his teeth, then followed him inside.

After talking to the secretary, she pointed them to direction of the principal’s office. They’d never had to go see the principal for Liam before. They’d been for Carmen plenty of times and Xavier once, but never Liam.

When they rounded the corner, they first noticed Liam sitting on one end of a bench fidgeting restlessly and another boy with dark brown hair and a scowl sitting on the other side. Liam had a black eye and the other boy had blood all down his front, most likely from a shot to the nose.

Ryan and Esposito were equal parts angry and impressed. Liam had clearly won. All those years of teaching him how to fight payed off. The only question was what the fight was about and if the kid deserved a broken nose.

Ryan was immediately by Liam’s side. “Liam, are you okay?” He asked.

Liam nodded but wouldn’t look at him.

“Ah, here you two are.” The principal said, coming out of the office. “Reese’s mom is already here.”

A woman who looked like just an older version of the young boy sitting on the opposite side of the bench stepped out after the principal and glared at Ryan and Esposito.

Ryan was taken aback, but Esposito gave her his own glare. It was the same glare that he used on criminals and no one was immune. The woman looked away.

Ryan stood. “What happened?” He asked before this could turn into something uglier than it already was.

“Your kid punched my kid in the face.” Reese’s mom spat.

“Hey, your little angel isn’t exactly absolved of guilt here, lady.” Esposito said. “Obviously he took a shot at my kid in the eye, so don’t play like he’s innocent.”

“We don’t know entirely what happened.” The principal said before anyone else could say a word. “I’ve only been able to get Reese’s side of the story, but it sounds like he and Liam haven’t been getting along all year. Now, I don’t know what was said, but it looks like Liam’s the one who started it.”

“There, you see?” Reese’s mom said. “Your little monster attacked first.”

“Lady, so help me god.” Esposito took a step toward her. “You do not want a cop on your bad side, believe me.”

“Okay, well, I don’t think Liam would have attacked unprovoked.” Ryan said, glaring at the both of them. He turned back to his son and crouched down beside him. “Liam, what happened? Did he say something?”

Liam was quiet for a long time, still fidgeting as if he was physically unable to stop. He looked up at all the adults awaiting his answer before returning his gaze to his dad. Slowly he nodded.

“What did he say, Liam?” Ryan coaxed.

Liam looked over at Reese’s smug face before looking back. “He called you guys… the f word.” His voice was barely audible.

Ryan hesitated. “Which one?” He asked softly.

Liam just gave him a knowing look and Ryan sighed before standing and looking at Reese’s mom with a rather unamused expression.

“Great.” Esposito said. “She’s raising her kid to be a homophobe.”

“Look.” Ryan said before they could start another world war. “I don’t care what happened or why. What I want to know is the plan right now. Are you suspending my kid for fighting?”

“I…” The principal was taken aback. “Well, yes. It’s our policy. Fighting will result in a week of suspension.”

“Then Reese will also be suspended?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, Reese too.” The principal confirmed.

Reese’s mother looked appalled, but Ryan didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Okay.” he said. “That sounds fair. Come on, Liam, we’re going home.”

Reese’s mother grabbed her kid. “You should keep your son on a leash.” She hissed before stalking down the hall.

“And you should wash your kid’s mouth out with soap!” Esposito called after her. “Homophobic cunt.” He muttered under his breath.

“Come on, Liam.” Ryan said, leading the boy down the hall, Esposito following.

When they made it outside, Esposito turned to Liam. “What have we always told you about fighting, Liam?”

Liam flinched. “It’s only for self-defense.” He said softly, not looking at either of them

“Exactly. Did you conveniently forget that?”

“Javi.” Ryan interrupted, glaring at his husband. “Laim, go wait in the car.” He handed Liam his keys and Liam was more than happy to run to the car waiting in the lot.

Esposito knew he was about to get it. Any time he ever raised his voice at their kids, especially Liam, Kevin had a few choice words for him. So he looked everywhere but at his husband.

But, instead of yelling, Ryan took a softer approach. “Hey,” He said, getting Esposito to look at him. “Look, I don’t know what happened between this morning and now, but you need to calm down. I remember a time when you did exactly the same thing Liam just did, except you were thirty-five and drunk. If a homophobic slur can make you snap at thirty-five, he can snap at thirteen.”

Esposito sighed. “It’s not that.” He said softly.

Ryan suspected as much. Under different circumstances, Esposito would be taking his boy out for ice cream, especially Liam who’d always had a hard time defending himself in the first place.

“It’s the case we got this morning.” Esposito said finally. “It’s a kid Liam’s age. I got the call that Liam was in some trouble and…”

Ryan immediately understood. He pulled Esposito down for a hug.

After a minute, Esposito pulled back. “I’m sorry.” He said softly.

Ryan kissed him. “I know.” He said.

“Can you… tell Liam?”

Ryan nodded. “But I think you should tell him yourself when you get off work.”

“Yeah.” Esposito agreed. “I’ll bring him some ice cream. Did you see the nose on that kid? He looked half terrified through his smug little face.”

Ryan laughed. “We’ve trained Liam well.”

Esposito leaned down to give him a kiss. “See you at home?” He asked.

“If I haven’t changed the locks.” Ryan joked. He kissed him again before walking to the car.

Liam had turned the car on and was sitting in the passenger’s seat looking more than worried, his hands fidgeting with the spinner ring they bought him three years ago. That was his general look, but at least this time Ryan could make the worry go away. He opened the door and slid in behind the wheel.

They drove in silence for a bit, Ryan giving Liam some time to relax before he grilled him for more information. The fact that he’d gotten him to say anything while everyone was staring at him was in itself a miracle. But Liam always opened up when it was just him and his dad.

When they were about halfway home, Ryan cleared his throat. “So.” He said softly. “Wanna give me all the gory details?”

Liam glanced at him and shrugged. “I told you what happened.” He said softly.

“Come on now, I know that’s not all there is to the story.” Ryan said. “You don’t just snap at someone and deck ‘em in the nose because they made fun of your dads once.”

Liam gritted his teeth. “Well, he had no right saying any of the things he said.” He growled.

Now they were getting somewhere. “So, aside from the slur, what else did he say?”

Liam sighed. “It wasn’t just today.” He said. “Today was just…”

“The breaking point.” Ryan nodded.

“He’s been bugging me all year.” Liam ran a shaky hand through his hair. “And for the most part, I ignored it, ya know? I don’t care that he told the whole school I’m adopted. I mean, it’s not like I’m ashamed of it or something. My dads chose me and my siblings, and it makes me feel good. I feel good knowing, out of all the kids you could have chosen, you chose me. But just… when he started in on you and Papa, I couldn’t control myself.”

Liam was on a roll. This was about the most he’d said in his entire life and Ryan was going to let him vent because out of all his kids, Liam needed to let off some steam. He’d rather he didn’t let it out all over another kid, but it wasn’t like Liam had hit a helpless child…

“He comes over to me in the cafeteria with that stupid face and I knew he was going to start shit. I could see it in his squinty eyes.”

Ryan had long since pulled into their driveway, but he left the motor running while Liam told his story.

“So I’m sitting there trying to eat with the only two kids I can stand to be around, and he just starts shooting off his mouth.” Liam lowered his voice in a mocking way. “‘Oh look, it’s poor adopted Liam. Can’t even afford his own lunch.’ And of course I didn’t bother to tell him that the lunch food at school is practically prison food and not worth the money at all. But then it just got worse because I wouldn’t react. It was like he knew exactly what buttons to push to get a rise out of me.” He paused. “He leaned down close and says ‘What, your f dads can’t get decent jobs? No one hires f’s to work for them.’”

Ryan shot his eyebrows up. That was a lot of prejudice for a thirteen year old kid. “So what did you do?”

Liam looked down at his hands. “It’s kind of a blur, but I stood up really fast and shoved him and told him to shut the fuck up.”

Ryan really tried not to smile.

“And then he hit me in the face… so I punched him in the nose… and he cried.”

Ryan couldn’t hold it in. He turned away from his son and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asked.

Ryan turned back to his son and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Honestly, Liam, if you didn’t look so different from Papa, I would say you and he were biologically related.”

“Papa?”

“That story you told was almost word for word exactly what he did about twenty years ago at Uncle Rick’s bar.” He turned off the car and stepped out, Liam following suit.

“But he seemed so mad.” Liam said, following his dad to the front door, still absently fidgeting with his ring.

“He’s just been having a bad day.” Ryan explained. “He actually told me to tell you he’s sorry and he’s bringing home ice cream.”

Liam paused as he followed Ryan into the house, closing the door behind him. “So, wait, you guys aren’t mad at me?”

Ryan turned to him. “I mean, it’s not exactly a good idea to start fighting at school. But, as this is your first offense, and that Reese kid is basically a talking weasel, I think you’re off the hook.”

“But… the last time Carmen got into a fight at school, you grounded her for a week and took away her phone.”

“That’s because Carmen dunked the girl’s head in the toilet and still won’t tell us why. We suspect it’s a really dumb reason, but mostly she was grounded for lying.” Ryan smiled at his son. “You were defending your family, Liam. And he threw the first punch. I mean, you shoved him, but I think technically he started the whole thing. So, no, you’re not grounded. Your sentence for fighting is copious amounts of ice cream and a week off of school.”

“Maybe I should fight more often…” Liam joked.

“Carmen can tell you why that’s a bad idea.” Ryan pulled Liam into a hug. “You alright?” He asked.

It was a lot of excitement and exhilaration for a kid with anxiety and Ryan could feel him trembling slightly.

“Yeah.” Liam said softly. “I just…”

Ryan pulled back. “Why don’t you go up to your room and relax for a while?” He suggested. “Put on some music or something.”

Liam nodded.

Ryan watched him head upstairs. “Hey.” He said before Liam could disappear. “I’m proud of you.”

Liam gave his dad a half smile before jogging the rest of the way up the stairs.

~.~.~

_“Liam, this is your new sister Carmen.”_

__

_Liam looked up at her shyly, his arms gripping his teddy bear tightly. He’d hardly left Ryan’s side through this whole process and now wasn’t any different._

__

_“Carmen, say hi.” Esposito said, nudging her forward a little._

__

_Carmen had just turned seven and was not in the least bit shy. So she grinned, some of her teeth missing, and held out her hand. “Hi, Liam.” She said._

__

_Liam looked at her hand and then up at Ryan. Ryan nodded his encouragement and Liam looked back at his new sister. Slowly, he held out his hand and Carmen gripped it._

__

_“As my new little brother,” She said, her missing teeth giving her a lisp. “I hope you realize that I’m the boss, so you have to do whatever I say.”_

__

_Liam actually looked scared at that, so Ryan stepped in before Liam stopped trusting her completely._

__

_“That’s not true, Carmen.” Ryan said. “Papa and I are the bosses. You have no business bossing your brother around.”_

__

_“What if I need to teach him things and you guys aren’t around?” Carmen asked._

__

_“Then you teach, you don’t boss around.” Esposito said._

__

_“Okay, who’s hungry?” Ryan asked before this could turn into a battle of wills, which Esposito and Carmen had had more than one of._

__

_“Me me me me me!” Carmen said, jumping up and down._

__

_“What about you, Liam?” Ryan asked softly._

__

_Slowly, Liam nodded his head._

__

_“Do you like pizza?” Esposito asked._

__

_“I do I do I do!” Carmen said, still jumping._

__

_“We know, Carmen.” Ryan said, laughing. “We were asking Liam.” He looked back down at the boy who, slowly again, nodded._

__

_“Yay!” Carmen cheered._

__

_“Okay, I think Papa can handle ordering the pizza and the three of us can pick out a movie. Does that sound like a good idea?” Ryan asked._

__

_Liam nodded again._

__

_“He doesn’t talk much, does he?” Carmen asked._

__

_Ryan tried to stand, but Liam gave him a very scared look and he ended up scooping him up in his arms first. Liam rested his head against Ryan’s collar bone as they stepped into the living room._

__

_“It’s just kind of overwhelming.” Ryan said in answer to Carmen’s question. “I’m sure he’ll open up more once he gets used to us.”_

__

_Carmen skipped over to the entertainment center and opened the drawer where some of the movies were kept. “Can I pick out the movie?” She asked, pulling a few out._

__

_“Let’s let Liam pick one out.” Ryan said, kneeling down so Liam could get a good look._

__

_Liam craned his neck to look at the many kid’s movies they owned._

__

_“What do ya think, Liam?” Ryan asked. “Which one do you want to watch?”_

__

_Liam scanned the display of movies before releasing his grip on the teddy bear and pointing at one of the more colorful dvd cases._

__

_“You want that one?” Ryan asked._

__

_Liam nodded._

__

_“Alright.” Ryan stood, Liam still in his arms. “You wanna put the movie in, Carmen?”_

__

_As Carmen fumbled with the case and placed the movie in the dvd player, Ryan stepped over to the couch and plopped down, shifting Liam so he was now sitting on his lap and facing the tv._

__

_“Pizza’s on its way.” Esposito said, stepping into the living room and sitting down next to Ryan._

__

_Ryan snuggled a little closer to his husband and Carmen sat on Esposito’s other side._

__

_“Okay, Carmen, press play.” Ryan said._

__

_Carmen picked up the remote and started the movie._

__

_They’d only gotten through the first thirty minutes of the movie when the doorbell rang, indicating the arrival of the pizza. Carmen had jumped off the couch and was halfway to the door when Esposito caught up with her, telling her she shouldn’t answer the door, especially at night, even if they knew who it was._

__

_Ryan stayed on the couch with Liam, who seemed a little more relaxed and had clearly been very into the movie. He looked up when Esposito and Carmen came back with the pizza, looking interested._

__

_They usually didn’t let Carmen eat in the living room, but they decided to make an exception just this once. In an effort to keep pizza sauce off the carpet, they put a towel down so the kids could eat on the floor._

__

_After some mild coaxing from Ryan, Liam joined his sister on the towel. He smiled up at Esposito who handed him a slice on a plate and seemed perfectly content on the floor. Ryan took this as a good sign, though he did feel the slightly cold absence of holding the boy in his arms._

__

_Esposito provided food for the rest of them and then sat next to his husband, turning the movie back on and draping one arm on the back of the couch behind Ryan’s head._

__

_Neither of the men were watching the movie, and not just because it was one they’d seen a million times. Instead, they watched the kids. Liam ate in silence, but Carmen was a chatter box. She talked to him about the movie, she talked to him about her school, she talked to him about almost everything. At one point she told him the “right way” to eat a slice of pizza, and he followed her instructions exactly, though it was hard for his small fingers to fold the pizza in half._

__

_When the movie was over, Carmen announced that she wanted to take Liam up to see her toys._

__

_“You wanna go see Carmen’s toys, Liam?” Ryan asked._

__

_Liam, his death grip still on his teddy bear, nodded enthusiastically. Carmen gripped one of his hands and practically dragged him upstairs, leaving their dads to clean up the mess._

__

_“What do you think?” Esposito asked softly as he gathered the plates and napkins left over from the decimation of pizza._

__

_“About what?” Ryan asked, helping him clean up._

__

_“Liam.” Esposito replied. “You think he’ll be a good fit?”_

__

_“Without a doubt.” Ryan said._

__

_“Me too.” Esposito hesitated. “I just…”_

__

_Ryan turned to him. “What?”_

__

_“He’s so… scared. Of everything.”_

__

_“Yeah.” Ryan gave a small shrug. “He’s been through a lot in his four years of life, and I don’t think his last foster home was very nice. I’m a little worried about what they did to him.”_

__

_“You think they abused him?” Esposito asked, his features hardening as he felt himself getting overly protective._

__

_Ryan looked up at where he knew Carmen’s room was. “I don’t know.” He said truthfully. “But a four year old shouldn’t look that terrified of everything.” He looked back at his husband. “He’s been through something terrible.”_

__

_Esposito stepped forward and gathered Ryan into his arms. “Well, I think it’s a good thing he’s with us then.” He said softly._

__

_They both had seen some shit. Whatever had happened to Liam, they were sure they could show him the love he was clearly missing._

__

_“It’s almost bedtime.” Esposito said softly. “We should put the kids down.”_

__

_Ryan smiled a little to himself._

__

_“What?” Esposito asked._

__

_Ryan shrugged slightly. “You said kids.” He smiled up at him. “We have more than one now.”_

__

_Esposito leaned down to give Ryan a kiss before leading the way upstairs._

__

_They found the kids surrounded by most, if not all, of Carmen’s toys. She seemed to be grabbing each one and showing them to him, adding her own explanation of what it was and if he was allowed to touch it._

__

_Ryan and Esposito stood in the doorway and watched. When Liam gave a huge yawn, Ryan decided it was time to intervene and put them to bed._

__

_“Okay, guys.” Ryan said, stepping into the room and crouching down. “It’s time for bed. We’ve gotta get this mess all cleaned up.”_

__

_“But I didn’t finish showing Liam all my toys.” Carmen protested._

__

_“There will be enough time for that tomorrow.” Esposito reassured her. “Right now we need to clean up and get ready to sleep. I dunno about you guys, but I’m beat.”_

__

_They worked to dump the toys back in their respective bins. There really wasn’t much of an order to it. By the time Carmen was three, they’d given up on organizing her toys and Esposito had run out and bought three large bins to throw them in. With holidays, grandparents, and Castle, Carmen had more toys than she knew what to do with._

__

_With the room all clean, Ryan picked up Liam and left Esposito to help Carmen into her pajamas._

__

_“There’s not a lot in here.” Ryan said as he opened the door to Liam’s new room. “We thought we’d go out tomorrow to get you new stuff so you could pick it out. Does that sound good?”_

__

_Liam nodded._

__

_They’d gotten Liam some bare essentials, like some new clothes and a bed and sheets, but they wanted to leave some room for Liam to choose what he wanted._

__

_Ryan set Liam down on the bed and then stepped over to the dresser to pull out a pair of light blue pajamas. They were soft and brand new and Liam seemed excited to wear them._

__

_Once Ryan had helped him put them on, Liam kept running his fingers over the soft fabric._

__

_“You like these?” Ryan asked._

__

_Liam nodded while still looking down at them and feeling how soft they were._

__

_“Then tomorrow we can get a whole bunch if you want.”_

__

_Liam smiled up at him and Ryan pulled him forward to give him a kiss on the forehead._

__

_“Okay, little man.” Ryan said, standing. “Let’s get you under the covers so you can get some sleep.”_

__

_Liam climbed onto the bed and Ryan pulled down the covers. Once Liam was situated, Ryan pulled the blankets up to his chin and then handed him his teddy bear._

__

_“How’s it going in here?” Esposito asked, stepping into the room._

__

_“We’re just about done.” Ryan said, stepping back to let Esposito in to give Liam a kiss on the forehead._

__

_“Goodnight, Liam.” Esposito said softly._

__

_With a final smile, Ryan and Esposito left the room hand in hand, shutting off the light as they went._

__

_Once the two of them had finished their own nightly routine and settled into bed, Esposito pulled Ryan to him and gave him a long, lingering kiss._

__

_“What was that for?” Ryan asked softly._

__

_“Because you’re fucking adorable with kids.” Esposito replied._

__

_Ryan gave him another kiss before snuggling close, the little spoon to Esposito’s big spoon._

__

_“You think he’ll be happy here?” Ryan asked softly as sleep began to take hold._

__

_“With you as his dad, I’m sure of it.” Esposito whispered._

__

_The two of them drifted off to sleep slowly, but Ryan was only asleep for maybe an hour when he heard someone sniffling. He pulled himself completely away from unconsciousness before looking at the foot of the bed where Liam stood, sniffling._

__

_“Liam?” Ryan asked, sitting up._

__

_Liam said nothing._

__

_Ryan’s movements pulled Esposito out of his dreams as well and he squinted first at his husband and then at the boy by their bed._

__

_“What’s going on?” Esposito asked._

__

_“Nothing, I’ll take care of it.” Ryan replied. “You’ve got work tomorrow, go back to sleep.”_

__

_Ryan slung his legs over the side of the bed and stepped over to Liam, scooping him up in his arms and holding him close to his chest as he walked back to Liam’s room._

__

_“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, side-stepping Liam’s bed and sitting down in the easy chair they’d put in the corner. “Did you have a nightmare?”_

__

_Liam shook his head._

__

_Ryan rocked back and forth in the chair for a little bit. “What happened?”_

__

_Liam sniffed before lifting tear-filled blue eyes to the man holding him. He bit his lip before, finally, speaking. “I like it here.” He said in a very soft voice, almost too low for Ryan to catch._

__

_“You do?” Ryan asked, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth._

__

_Liam nodded._

__

_“Then what’s with the sad face?” Ryan asked, brushing the boy’s bangs from his forehead._

__

_Liam wouldn’t look at him. He sniffed once more before blurting, “I don’t want to leave.”_

__

_Ryan gave him a very confused face. “Who said you have to leave?”_

__

_“Joey,” He said hiccuping. “He said you guys wouldn’t like me and were gonna send me back. And I don’t want to go back because I like it here.”_

__

_“Oh, Liam.” Ryan reached up and brushed some of Liam’s tears away. “Is Joey one of the boys you used to live with?”_

__

_Liam nodded._

__

_Ryan pulled the crying boy into a hug. “Well, first of all, Liam, you’re not a dog. We aren’t going to just take you back. We_ chose _you. We_ want _you here. Secondly, this isn’t a temporary foster home like you’re used to. This is your_ permanent _home. Javi and I are your_ permanent _daddies. We aren’t going to let you go anywhere. You’re stuck with us now.”_

__

_“Really?” Came Liam’s soft muffled voice._

__

_“Really.” Ryan said, rocking back and forth in the chair again._

__

_He didn’t know how long he’d been rocking, but it was clearly long enough not only for Liam to fall asleep but for Esposito to come looking for them._

__

_“Hey.” Esposito whispered, stepping into the room. “Everything okay? You never came back.”_

__

_“Yeah, sorry.” Ryan whispered back. “I lost track of time.”_

__

_“He asleep?”_

__

_“I think so.” Ryan replied. “You wanna put him in his bed? He’s drooling on my shoulder.”_

__

_Esposito snorted and reached down to peel the boy from his resting place. Liam wrapped his arms around Esposito’s neck, still pretty much asleep, and clung to him as he moved him to his bed. He gently placed Liam on the bed and peeled his arms off his neck, placing the bear in his arms instead. Liam clung to the bear and rolled over as Esposito pulled the blanket over his small frame._

__

_“Come on, let’s go back to bed.” Esposito said, holding a hand out to help Ryan out of the chair._

_**  
**They once again left their son’s room hand in hand._


	4. Chapter 4

“Dad, oh my god, is it true?”

Ryan looked up from the book he was reading to find his daughter’s excited face about as close to his as it could get. “Is what true?” He asked. “Hey, Jo.” He said to Carmen’s best friend standing farther back.

“Hey, Uncle Kevin.” Jo waved. “What’re you reading?”

Ryan held it up. “One of your dad’s books. I really like Detective Ochoa.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, who cares about your unhealthy obsession with Uncle Rick’s books?” Carmen interrupted. “Liam. Did he really get into a fight?” Carmen asked.

Ryan took his reading glasses off. “Uh, yeah. He punched a kid in the nose today.”

“My brother is way more badass than I thought.” Carmen smiled. “I’m gonna go congratulate him.”

“Carmen.” Ryan stopped her. “Let’s wait until he comes out of his room. He’s been in there all day, I think the whole thing was a lot for him to handle.”

“That could be hours.” Carmen complained.

“The price to pay for an introverted brother.” Ryan chuckled. “It probably won’t be that long. Why don’t you come sit? I’ve got something I want to talk to you about anyway.”

“Dad, I really don’t think-”

“Carmen.” Ryan said. “Sit. Please?”

“Oooh!” Jo teased, taking a seat in one of the easy chairs while Carmen slowly sat down next to her dad on the couch.

Ryan paused for a bit. “You know what this is about, don’t you?”

Carmen wouldn’t look at him.

“I got a call from your school today.” Ryan sighed. “You’re failing three classes, Carmen. Three. You wanna explain?”

Carmen glanced over at Jo who had pulled out her phone so she wouldn’t have to be in on the conversation, though she was clearly going to eavesdrop.

“Okay, look, dad.” Carmen said, turning to him. “It’s not my fault, okay? Ms. Trujillo is always on my case. And she can’t teach trig worth a damn.”

It was true. Ryan had met the woman. He was really surprised she was allowed to teach in the first place.

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” Ryan said. “Papa and I will have to go down there and talk to them about that one. But what about the other two? I mean, you’re failing gym class. Gym. How do you fail gym? All you have to do is show up and play dodgeball.”

“And wear those god awful gym clothes.” Carmen muttered.

“You can’t tell me you’re failing because you won’t change into your gym clothes.” Ryan said disbelieving.

“No, I wear them.” She said, still not looking at him.

“Yeah, when you bother to show up.” Jo said quietly from her spot in the chair.

“Jo!” Carmen glared at her.

“Carmen!” Ryan said, getting her attention. “You’re skipping class? Are you serious?”

“Well,” Carmen shrugged. “It’s a stupid class! I work out enough on my own, what do I need gym for?”

“Hm, let me think. Probably to graduate!” Ryan sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Promise me you’ll start going to gym class.”

Carmen hesitated.

“Carmen.”

“Alright.” She said, annoyed.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Jo?” He said.

“I’ll make sure she goes, Uncle Kevin.” Jo promised.

Carmen glared at her.

“Don’t give me that look.” Jo said, defiant. “You ditched all week and left me there with Tyler asking where you are all the time. I don’t have the heart to tell your loyal golden retriever that you’re just not that into him.”

Carmen sighed.

“Okay,” Ryan interrupted before they could get off topic. “What about English? You’re usually really good in English, why are you failing that one?”

Carmen hesitated. “Well, the assignments are ridiculous, first of all.” She said. “A-and I’m just not getting the material.”

Carmen was a great liar. Carmen was a fantastic liar. Carmen once lied about breaking Ryan’s laptop when she was in third grade and, even though he’d seen her do it, the lie was so well thought out, he just let her have it.

But there was one thing Carmen sucked at lying about.

“So who’s the boy?” Ryan asked, catching Jo’s smile as she continued to play on her phone and “not listen”.

“What makes you think there’s a boy?” Carmen asked, not meeting his gaze.

“Carmen. I’m a detective.” Ryan said. “And you’re the shade of Uncle Rick’s Ferrari. Who’s the boy?”

Carmen hated that her parents were detectives. “Okay.” She said softly. “His name is Dylan.”

Ryan nodded. “Are you guys dating?”

Carmen bit her lip. “For like a week now.”

“A week?” Ryan smiled. “So Dylan’s in your English class and you haven’t been paying attention?”

Carmen shrugged and then smiled. “We pass notes.”

Ryan sighed. “Well, first plan of action: Stop doing that. Secondly, I think you should invite this kid to dinner this weekend.”

“What? Dad, I can’t do that.” Carmen said, standing.

Ryan gave her a confused look. “Why?” He asked.

Carmen chewed a bit of skin off her lip and looked away.

“Is there something wrong with the kid?” Ryan asked, then he smiled. “Is this kid actually girl? You can tell me, Carmen. It might take some doing, but I think I can convince Papa that gay is okay.”

Jo snorted from the chair and discreetly turned it into a cough.

“Come on, dad.” Carmen said.

“Well, what are you being so serious about?” Ryan asked. “What’s so wrong about inviting your boyfriend to dinner?”

Carmen shrugged and then shoved her hands in her pockets. “I just… don’t want Papa to meet him.”

That was weird. “Why?” Ryan asked.

Carmen ran her hand through her hair. “Because he’ll do the stupid talk.” She said. “He’ll do that dumb ‘I’m a homicide detective. I can kill you and make it look like an accident. Break my girl’s heart, I’ll break every bone in your body’ thing.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “When has he ever said that?”

“He says it every time, dad.” Carmen folded her arms. “He usually says it when you’re not in the room so you can’t tell him to shut up.”

Carmen had had a total of three boyfriends. How had Ryan not known about this?

“Okay, well, I’ll talk to him about it.” Ryan said. “He probably doesn’t realize how intimidating he’s being.”

“He’s a grown ass man.” Carmen replied. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“Alright, enough.” Ryan held a hand up. “Invite Dylan over for Saturday and I’ll make sure Papa doesn’t make another boyfriend wet himself.”

Carmen gave a disbelieving look but eventually agreed to invite Dylan over.

It really wasn’t Esposito’s fault. The man got overly protective of his family and he didn’t trust any boy who so much as looked at his daughter. It wasn’t that he thought Carmen couldn’t defend herself. Like Liam, Carmen had been taught to fight from a young age. Besides that, she was very strong willed. In fact, any kid who would break her heart would have a tougher time dealing with her than her Papa. Esposito knew this, but he clearly needed help controlling himself.

“Ice cream man’s here!”

Ryan looked down at his watch. “Papa’s home early.” He murmured.

Carmen turned wide eyes to her dad. “Oh god, please don’t tell him I’m failing classes.” She said quickly before Esposito could make it to the living room. “I promise I’ll bring the grades up, I just don’t want him to freak.”

Ryan gave her a long look. “Okay, fine, but you have to bring those grades up or I’m siccing your Papa on you.”

A smiling Esposito entered the room and set the grocery bag with ice cream on the table in the kitchen before crossing over to the living room.

“You’re home early.” Ryan said, standing to greet his husband with a hungry kiss.

“Oh god, excuse my dads, Jo.” Carmen said, wrinkling her nose. “They’re gross.”

Jo shrugged. “You’ve seen my parents. Imagine what they’re like when you leave.”

Esposito gave the girls a look and then turned his attention back to his husband. Ryan was only given a small smirk as a warning before he was being dipped and kissed so hard he didn’t even have time to breathe. All he could do was keep one arm around Esposito’s neck to keep himself from falling, though he knew there was no way Esposito would let that happen.

When Esposito pulled him back up into a standing position, Ryan stood there a little dazed.

“Tell your dad to step up his game.” Esposito winked at Jo and then turned back to the kitchen to put away the ice cream.

“I am thoroughly disgusted.” Carmen said, her arms folded.

“Dad and Papa making out again?” Liam asked as he entered the room, clearly having spent enough time alone and feeling energized enough to socialize again.

“When do they do anything else?” Carmen asked. She then smiled at her little brother. “So I heard you beat the shit out of a kid today.”

Liam smiled and they fist pounded. “Yeah, well, he was basically a talking weasel.” He exchanged a look with his dad.

“I remember my first fight.” Carmen smiled at the memory. “That little bitch never stole my crayons again.”

“Well, you didn’t have to sit on her head.” Esposito said, but he was smiling.

“Kindergarten was brutal.” Carmen replied. “It was a battle ground. Only the strong got to color, and I was not going to let her ruin my rainbow by stealing my purple crayon.”

“Hey, Uncle Javi.” Jo said stepping over to the group. “Dad says ‘You’re on.’”

Esposito gave a mischievous smile. “Excellent.” He said.

“Nothing too fancy this time, Javier Esposito.” Ryan said, poking him in the chest. “Last time you and Castle tried to out-romance each other, Beckett and I each got a garden's worth of roses, an entire jewelry store, and,” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I was walking funny for a week.”

“Oh, dad!” Carmen said, clearly disgusted.

“That's why I lowered my voice!” Ryan defended while Esposito tried not to laugh. “Don't eavesdrop if you want to have your child innocence spared. But in case you’re wondering, your Papa and I do indeed have a sex life. Tell your friends.” He gave her a smile before grabbing the front of Esposito’s shirt and pulling him down for another heated kiss.

“You guys are disgusting.” Carmen said, her nose slightly wrinkled but a look in her eyes suggesting she was glad her dads loved each other, even if they were over the top about it.

“Now, Liam.” Esposito said once he’d gotten the use of his lips back. “Because you punched a kid in the nose to defend your family, and because I acted like an ass about it, I got you your favorite ice cream and I was thinking Chinese food tonight. Any objections?”

Everyone murmured their approval of the plan.

“Jo is invited, of course.” Ryan said.

“Jo practically lives here, of course she’s invited. That’s a given.” Esposito said, pulling out his phone and scrolling. He’d put the number of their favorite Chinese restaurant in his phone years ago. They were all surprised it wasn’t on speed dial.

As everyone began shouting out their orders, though they all got the same thing every time there really was no need, they heard the door open and close and a second later Xavier was entering the room.

“We’re ordering Chinese for dinner, Xavier, what do you want?” Ryan asked.

“Mu Shu Pork.” Xavier said, smiling.

“Get extra of that.” Ryan said to his husband.

“I know.” Esposito winked at him.

“Here’s the mail, Papa.” Xavier said, handing it to him.

No one really knew why, but Xavier loved getting the mail. He and Ryan would venture out to retrieve it every day when he was younger, and now he’d grab it on his way home from the bus stop every day. They were more than happy to let him do it. One less thing to worry about, even if it was a small thing.

Esposito accepted the mail before putting the phone to his ear and placing his order, sifting through the mail as he did.

“So, how was school today, Xavier?” Ryan asked.

Xavier shrugged. “Nothing special.” He said, stepping over to the pantry and pulling out a box of cookies.

“Not too many of those.” Ryan said. “You sure nothing happened? Nothing exciting?”

Xavier gave him a look. “No…” He said slowly.

“Well, Liam had an interesting day, didn’t you, Liam?” Ryan looked over at Liam who was smiling.

“What happened?” Xavier asked, clearly interested.

“Our very own Liam got into a fist fight today.” Carmen said, draping her arm over Liam’s shoulder.

“No way!” Xavier said. “What happened?”

As Liam slowly relayed what happened to his younger brother, Esposito finished placing the order and began opening one of the letters addressed to “The Parent or Guardian of Carmen Esposito”.

“Carmen.” Esposito said, looking through it.

Carmen looked over at her Papa and the smile she’d had when listening to the story faltered when she saw what was in her Papa’s hands. “Papa, I can explain.” She said, staring at the report card.

“Oh good, because I’d really like to know why you’re failing three classes and why I didn’t know about this.” Esposito said dangerously.

“Javi.” Ryan warned.

“I’m going to bring them up.” Carmen said.

“It’s almost the end of the year, I’m very excited to see you pull that miracle out of your ass.” Esposito said.

“Oh, what, now you don’t have any faith in me?” Carmen asked, folding her arms.

“Don’t you try to pull that crap on me.” Esposito said. “I support you in every decision, but I’m not going to support you in failing eleventh grade.”

“I’m not going to fail!”

“You’re already failing!”

Ryan ever so subtly ushered the rest of the kids into the other room. When Esposito and Carmen went at it, things could get ugly. They never broke anything or said anything particularly nasty, but the arguments did get heated and loud and no one liked being in the same room as them when it was happening.

“Liam, why don’t you finish telling Xavier and Jo what happened.” Ryan suggested as the shouting got louder and they switched to Spanish.

Esposito had taught all the kids Spanish. Liam of course didn’t start learning until he was four, but it was surprisingly easy to teach a child a different language. Of all the kids, however, Carmen was the one who used Spanish the most and it was purely because she needed it to argue with her Papa. When the two of them went off in Spanish, everyone knew the argument was serious.

Ryan was the only one in the family not fluent. He knew enough to get by, but he couldn’t really hold a conversation for too long, and forget trying to follow Carmen and Esposito’s arguments. Ryan didn’t even know people could talk that fast. The only thing Ryan had been able to pass on to his children was piano. They all had basic knowledge, but Liam was the only one who stuck with it. Something about soothing piano music made him that much more eager to learn it.

Liam continued his story, but they were all really paying attention to the direction the fight was going. The literal direction. They’d started in the kitchen, moved to the front room and then Carmen began to stomp up the stairs yelling while Esposito yelled after her.

When Carmen’s door slammed shut, Liam had stopped talking and everyone was eavesdropping, though they heard nothing more.

“Okay, you guys stay here, I’m gonna go make sure they’re okay.” Ryan said, stepping back out in the open.

Esposito was sitting at the kitchen table, holding his head up with one hand and looking over Carmen’s report card, his expression angry.

“Everything okay?” Ryan asked softly.

Esposito glanced at him and then looked back at the report card.

“I’m gonna go check on Carmen.” Ryan put a hand on Esposito’s shoulder and squeezed slightly before moving over to the staircase and jogging up.

As a joke, Esposito bought Carmen a “Go Away” sign for the front of her door. It had now been hanging there for five years.

Ryan hesitated slightly before knocking on the door softly.

“What?” Came Carmen’s curt reply.

“It’s me.” Ryan said.

The fact that she didn’t tell him to go away was a good sign. He opened the door slowly to find her sitting on her bed hugging a pillow and angrily texting. It was more than likely that she was telling Jo what happened.

Ryan sat on the edge of her bed. After a minute he sighed. “Papa can be an ass sometimes.” He said.

She lifted her eyes from the phone and gave him a look.

“Oh, come on, you know he’s not always like this.” Ryan said. “He’s had a hard day. Work sucked, Liam got into a fight, and now you’re failing.”

“I’m not failing.” Carmen said immediately.

“Hate to break it to you, princess, but yes you are.” Ryan gave her a smile. He only ever called her “princess” when she was either being difficult or he wanted to make her smile. In this case, it was both.

Carmen sighed and tossed her phone to the other end of the bed. “I’m going to bring the grades up.” She said.

Ryan nodded. “I don’t doubt that you can, but it’ll take a lot of focus, more than you’re giving right now, and some major groveling to your teachers.”

“That’s such shit.” Carmen said, folding her arms.

“I know.” Ryan agreed. “The school systems aren’t that great, but graduating High School is important. Though he’s not very good at it, your Papa is just trying to explain the importance of graduating.”

“Okay, I get that, but why does he have to be so…”

“Loud about it?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, there was a time when Papa almost threw away his entire future.” Ryan shrugged slightly. “I’m not going to give you the finer details, but I can say that he’s glad he finished school. Now, look, I’ve got your Papa’s back on this. We’re both going to be on you about school work, which is going to be annoying, but you’ve let yourself fall this far down the hole and our goal is to pull you back up. It’s really simple, honestly. You just can’t do fun stuff until you finish homework, including extra work you’ve been given.”

“Dad.” Carmen tried the puppy look.

“Nope. You’ve brought this upon yourself.” Ryan stood. “You still get to hang out with Jo, we’ll even let you have weekends with your boyfriend, but that’s only if you can get all your work done. I’m serious. You’re going to graduate if Papa and I have to drag you kicking and screaming the whole way.”

The corner’s of Carmen’s mouth twitched as she tried not to smile. “Fine.” She said.

Ryan gave her a warm smile. “Now, before you come down, I’m gonna go talk to Papa. hopefully we can get this sorted out before the food gets here because I’m hungry.”

~.~.~

_Beckett crouched down by the dead body, using a pen to lift the hole in the shirt where the guy had been stabbed._

__

_“Is the Captain even supposed to be out working cases?” Esposito asked._

__

_Beckett shrugged. “Espo, you’ve been partner-less for over a year now. This is basically the equivalent of everyone in the class finding a partner and the one kid in the back has to partner with the teacher.”_

__

_“I’m not really partner-less.” Esposito reasoned. “Castle and Ryan still come down and help me.”_

__

_“A fact of which I am well aware.” Beckett murmured._

__

_“Hey, say the word and we’ll fire ‘em.” Esposito replied._

__

_“I can’t fire our husbands.” Beckett raised an eyebrow. “That wouldn’t bode well for either of us.”_

__

_“Well, they probably won’t be around much longer.” Esposito said. “Once the baby comes, Ryan’s convinced your husband to give him a nice long paid vacation from work. And, if Castle knows there’s a baby around, he’s going to be at our house all the time.”_

__

_“Yeah, good luck with that.” Beckett laughed. “So, when is the baby due?”_

__

_“Last week.” Esposito sighed. “Vanessa’s ready to pop any day now. She’s got my cell and Ryan’s cell on speed dial, so we’ll know the second she goes into labor.”_

__

_Beckett hesitated. “So… do you think it’ll feel weird at all?”_

__

_“What?” Esposito asked._

__

_“I dunno.” Beckett shrugged. “I mean, this teenager’s just giving her baby to you.”_

__

_“Ryan and I have talked a lot about this, actually.” Esposito replied. “And we talked to Vanessa. She doesn’t want this kid, Kate. She can’t take care of a baby at eighteen. She’s about to graduate from High School and she wants to go to college. She said she didn’t even want kids. You can understand that.”_

__

_Beckett nodded. She’d more than once pointed out that kids weren’t her thing._

__

_“I mean, it was either this or an abortion.” Esposito shrugged slightly. “She said she didn’t think she could go through with an abortion, so she started looking for someone to take the baby, and she found us. Fell in love with Ryan immediately, but then again who wouldn’t?”_

__

_Beckett playfully shoved him. “So what you’re saying is you don’t think it’ll be weird.”_

__

_“Not even a little.” Esposito said, smiling. “Kev and I decided adoption was the way to go a long time ago. I’m just happy we’re going to be saving this baby from a foster home. She’s not gonna know anything but us.”_

__

_“What if she asks who her mother is when she gets older?”_

__

_“Well, Vanessa has said she doesn’t want any contact with the kid.” Esposito shrugged. “I mean, Kev and I aren’t exactly going to be able to hide the fact that she’s adopted, so we’re anticipating that she’ll be asking someday. We’ll tell her as much as we can. If she decides one day that she’ll want to go find her mother, then we’ll deal with it then. For now our only concern is getting that baby here.”_

__

_“Javi!”_

__

_Beckett and Esposito looked up to find Ryan and Castle running toward them. Ryan sprinted to Esposito, his eyes bright with excitement._

__

_“Kev, what’s going on?” Esposito asked, looking from his husband to Castle and back again._

__

_“Vanessa.” Ryan said, smiling. “She just texted me like five minutes ago. She’s in labor.”_

__

_It took a second for that to sink in. Esposito blinked. “She… she’s having our baby?”_

__

_“She’s having our baby.” Ryan confirmed._

__

_Esposito seemed incapable of speech. He looked over to Beckett, hoping she’d get his silent question if he could leave._

__

_“Go, go get your baby.” Beckett said, making a shooing motion._

__

_Esposito gave her a slight smile in gratitude and then looked down at his husband when he grabbed his hand._

__

_“Let’s go, Papa.” Ryan said, giving his hand a squeeze._

__

_“Keep us updated!” Beckett called after them as they jogged to Esposito’s car._

__

_They picked up speed and almost ran smack into the side of the car when they reached it. Ryan wrenched the passenger door open as Esposito slid over the hood to the other side. Esposito had tried that once before and ended up hurting himself, so this was impressive. Ryan stood unmoving for a couple of seconds, impressed, before coming back to himself and sliding into his seat just as Esposito started the car._

__

_“She’s at the hospital?” Esposito asked as he pulled out into traffic._

__

_“That’s what she said.” Ryan replied pulling out his phone to check her texts. “She said contractions are three minutes apart and she’s going to try to wait for us, but there’s really not much she can do if the baby decides to show up before we get there.”_

__

_Every time they needed to be somewhere in a hurry, they regretted living in New York. Sometimes even using a siren didn’t help much as there was often no room for cars to get out of the way. That didn’t stop Esposito, however. About five minutes into being in traffic, Esposito started his siren._

__

_“That’s abusing your authority.” Ryan pointed out._

__

_“Yeah, well.” Esposito didn’t seem to give a single shit about abuse of power. There was only one thing on his mind._

__

_They made it to the hospital in record time and, after parking the car, they all but sprinted into the building._

__

_“Vanessa Chavez?” Esposito said breathlessly to the nurse behind the counter._

__

_“Dads one and two?” The lady asked, typing something into the computer._

__

_Ryan laughed slightly. “Yeah, that’s us.”_

__

_“Room 302.” The nurse said. “I think she’s about to go into delivery.”_

__

_They decided not to run in the hospital, but they did walk about as quickly as they could to room 302 where they found Vanessa covered in sweat and breathing heavily._

__

_“You guys made it.” Vanessa smiled and then her head fell back against the pillows and she squeezed her eyes shut._

__

_“Vanessa, did you come here alone?” Esposito asked, noting the absence of her mother._

__

_“Please, you think I was gonna ask my mom to bring me here?” Vanessa looked back at them. “The bitch already hates me for getting pregnant. She gave up the right to be here a long ass time ago. I took a cab.”_

__

_“You took a cab to the hospital?” Ryan asked._

__

_“Vanessa, that’s why we gave you our numbers.” Esposito scolded._

__

_“You really wanna do this right now?” Vanessa grunted as another wave of pain hit her. “I’m about to give birth to your fucking kid, I’m allowed to get to the hospital however I want. And it’s a good thing I didn’t wait for you, you were almost too late- oh god!” She squeezed her eyes shut as another contraction hit her._

__

_“Okay, you’re right. We’re sorry.” Ryan stepped over to her. “I know this isn’t a good time to be asking questions, but do you want us to wait out here when they take you to the delivery room?”_

__

_Vanessa looked over at Ryan and gave a smile, that was of course a bit distorted with pain. “I’m gonna need someone’s hand to squeeze till it breaks, won’t I?”_

__

_“You’re sure you want us in there?” Esposito asked._

__

_“Guys, we talked about this.” Vanessa said. “I want you to be there for the birth of your damn kid. Besides, who else is gonna be in there to cheer me on?”_

__

_“Okay.” Ryan smiled slightly. “If you’re still sure.”_

__

_“I’m still sure.” Vanessa replied._

__

_“Vanessa, you ready to have this baby?” They all looked up to find Vanessa’s doctor walking in with a smile._

__

_“Yes god please take this kid out of me.” Vanessa groaned._

__

_“And dads are coming with?”_

__

_“Dads are coming with.” Vanessa confirmed._

__

_“Alright, everybody.” The doctor smiled. “Let’s go have a baby.”_

__

_It ended up being nine hours. Nine hours of breathing, panting, cursing, and a possible broken pinky on Ryan’s right hand. He never said a word, though. Vanessa was giving him the greatest gift he could possibly receive, a broken pinky was a small price to pay._

__

_Ryan and Esposito were given the option to leave if it got to be too much, but they continued to reassure everyone in the room that in their line of work, they’d seen pretty much everything._

__

_When they saw the head, it was a moment of excitement but also one of the strangest things to witness. When the doctor announced that she needed to keep pushing to get the shoulders out, no one was pleased. But, eventually, with a lot of screaming from Vanessa and cheerleading from the boys, the baby was out._

__

_After that, everything was a blur. Ryan and Esposito cut the cord together and watched their tiny baby girl be taken to get cleaned. Ryan felt a little lightheaded and leaned against his husband for a second before turning back to Vanessa who looked like literal hell._

__

_“You did it.” He said, smiling._

__

_She gave him a half smile. “It was nothing. Delivering a baby.” She scoffed “Give me something hard to do.”_

__

_Ryan huffed out a laugh._

__

_“You wanna see her?” Esposito asked._

__

_Vanessa gave him a long look before shaking her head. “The hard part’s over.” She said softly. “I’m not looking to make this harder.”_

__

_“Vanessa, if you’re having second thoughts-”_

__

_“I’m not.” She interrupted Ryan. “Not even a little. You guys are officially and legally that girl’s parents. I don’t want to see her.” She sighed and laid back against the pillows again. “Right now what I want to do is take the longest nap ever and start drinking coffee again.”_

__

_Ryan smiled. “You’re still sure?”_

__

_“I was sure four months ago when I signed those papers, and I’m sure now.” Vanessa said. “You guys take care of her.”_

__

_“We will.” Ryan said. “Thank you.” He took her hand and squeezed it slightly, knowing that no amount of thanks could come close to being enough. “If there’s anything we can do…”_

__

_Vanessa smiled. “I’ll be waiting for my fruit basket.”_

__

_“Oh, don’t say that.” Esposito said. “Kevin’s gonna send you a fruit basket every week for a year now.”_

__

_“I’m gonna hold you to that.” Vanessa said. “And I don’t need anything. Really. After graduation I’m gonna move in with my dad in Jersey. I’m gonna be fine. I’m… actually gonna be fine because of you guys. So, you know, thanks.”_

__

_“Okay, Vanessa, we’re going to take you to recovery.” One of the nurses said. “No contact with the baby, is that correct?”_

__

_Vanessa took a deep breath and then nodded with a smile. “Yeah, that’s right.”_

__

_Ryan and Esposito watched as they wheeled her away and Ryan swallowed the lump in his throat._

__

_“Daddies?”_

__

_The two of them turned to find a nurse holding the tiny baby in her arms, wrapped in a blanket with a baby feet pattern all over it and a striped beanie on her head._

__

_“Would you like to hold your baby?”_

__

_Ryan immediately held out his arms and the tiny bundle was placed in them. A huge wave of emotion passed over him as he held his first child in his arms. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t biologically related, this was his baby. He cleared his throat and blinked his tears back._

__

_“Hi, sweetheart.” He whispered, slowly rocking her in his arms._

__

_Esposito watched over his shoulder for a time before deciding it was his turn._

__

_Ryan carefully handed the baby to his husband and watched the same emotions wash over him as well._

__

_“Do we have a name?” The nurse asked softly._

_**  
**“Carmen.” Esposito said, looking up at her and smiling. “Carmen Esposito.”_


	5. Chapter 5

Ryan slowly descended the staircase and smiled sadly at his husband still sitting at the table looking miserable. He stepped over to him and pulled out a chair, sitting down and picking up the report card Esposito had set down.

They sat in silence for a time before Esposito spoke up.

“She okay?” He asked softly.

“Takes more than a shouting match with her Papa to affect Carmen.” Ryan replied.

Esposito leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. “I can’t believe I yelled at two of our kids in the same day.” He groaned.

Ryan smiled and reached out, pulling Esposito’s hands back down so he could look him in the eye. “So you yelled today. Not like it’s the first time.”

Esposito gave him a look. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Ryan chuckled. “The point is, your kids still love you, right? No matter how many times you’ve yelled at them, they still love you.”

“You make it sound like they love me out of fear.” Esposito pouted.

“Believe me, if it was out of fear, you’d know.” Ryan smiled. “You had some good reasons, I think. And you didn’t yell at Liam. Just snapped. And you apologized.”

Esposito looked down.

“Javi, stop beating yourself up over this.” Ryan reached out and put a hand on his cheek, forcing him to look up. “Everyone loses their cool sometimes. You and Carmen lost your cool today. And I told her this was important and I’ve got your back. I mean, you’re right. She needs to pass her classes. She needs to graduate.”

“I just don’t want her to drop out.” Esposito said softly.

“I know.” Ryan replied. “And she won’t. We’ll make sure of that. She’s a smart kid, she can do this.”

“Yeah.” Esposito sighed. “That kid has so much potential, I just can’t stand to see her throwing it away. And I get it, you know? School sucks. It’s always sucked. But if she could suck it up for one more year, it’ll get way better.”

Ryan nodded. “Well, we can work on it. I’ll help her when I can, and we’ve got the boyfriend situation under control, so-”

“Boyfriend situation?” Esposito asked.

“Oh.” Ryan cleared his throat. “Carmen’s got a boyfriend. He’s coming to dinner this weekend.”

Esposito gaped at him. “No one thought I should know about this?”

“I literally just found out twenty minutes ago.” Ryan reassured. “He’s the reason for the English grade. I figured if we let her have time with him outside of school, she’d be able to pay attention in class.”

Esposito just responded with a look.

“Okay, it’s a long shot. If her grade just gets worse, we can come up with a new plan.” Ryan shrugged. “I just think for now giving her some leeway might do some good.”

“I can’t believe I have another boyfriend to worry about.” Esposito rubbed his eyes. “Why can’t she just go back to being a cute little six year old?”

“Javi, you don’t have to worry about the boyfriend.” Ryan said. “Carmen’s old enough to have a relationship. And we’ve taught her everything she needs to know. She’ll be fine.”

“I trust her.” Esposito said. “I don’t trust him.”

“You’ve never met him.” Ryan said. “And that’s why he’s coming to dinner.”

“You know, when we first had Carmen, I really wasn’t thinking about what would happen when she started dating. This is a whole other set of knots in my neck.”

Ryan smiled. “You shouldn’t worry so much, Javi. Carmen can take care of herself. She has also requested you don’t tell the boy you’ll break his face if he breaks her heart.”

“She told you about that, huh?” Esposito asked, not looking at him.

“Why do you feel the need to terrify her boyfriends?”

Esposito sighed. “Because none of them are good enough for her.”

Ryan thought about that. “Yeah, that’s true. But, really, none of them will be good enough for her. We need to trust her judgement.”

Esposito gave him a long look. “How are you like this?”

Ryan cocked his head to the side. “Like what?”

Esposito shrugged. “Just… you fix everything. The second something goes wrong, you know exactly how to handle it automatically.”

Ryan was taken aback slightly. “That’s not always true. I was talking to Xavier this morning and he reminded me of how I made you sleep on the couch for like a week last month. Thinking about it now, I’m not sure that was the best way to handle things.”

“That couch did screw up my back.” Esposito said.

Ryan leaned forward a bit. “And I had to massage the tension out of your shoulders.” He said softly.

Esposito gave him a look. “Kevin Ryan, are you coming onto me?”

Ryan smirked and leaned the rest of the way, giving Esposito a long, lingering kiss. “You’re not a bad parent, Javi. Or a bad husband. You’re just having a bad day. Everyone knows this isn’t how you normally are, and I know they’ll forgive you.”

Esposito gripped the front of Ryan’s shirt and pulled him in for another kiss just as the doorbell rang.

Ryan pulled away. “I’ll get that.” He said, standing.

Esposito pinched his ass before he could get very far and Ryan yelped, turning to give his husband a half-assed glare.

He paid for the food, added a tip to the delivery boy, and stepped back into the kitchen with the bag. As he set the bag on the counter and began pulling out the containers of food, he felt Esposito’s strong arms wrap around his middle. Esposito leaned forward a little and placed a kiss on the side of his neck.

“The kids are probably hungry.” Ryan said softly, abandoning the task of taking the food out of the bag.

“They can wait a few minutes.” Esposito murmured, resuming his sensual kissing down Ryan’s neck.

“They’ll be able to smell the food.” Ryan said breathlessly.

“We must teach our children patience.”

“While being impatient ourselves?”

Esposito stepped back and allowed Ryan to turn around in his arms to face him. “I think we’ve waited long enough.” He leaned down and gave him a hungry kiss.

“I hope you’re not expecting this to progress further than making out.” Ryan said softly.

“I think we’re all hoping that.” Liam said.

Ryan and Esposito pulled apart and looked at the three kids standing there with amused expressions.

“Right on cue.” Ryan said. He pulled away from his husband and resumed his task of unloading the food. “Everyone grab plates.”

Xavier stepped over to the cupboard and began handing out plates and utensils.

“Carmen!” Ryan called. “Food!”

As everyone began loading their plates with a little of everything, they heard Carmen coming down the stairs. She stopped right outside the kitchen and stood with her arms folded.

“Hurry and grab a plate, Carmen.” Ryan said. “These vultures are gonna pick everything clean.”

Carmen didn’t move but instead stood there, angst radiating off of her.

Esposito turned and noticed her standing there. “You hungry?” He asked.

She shrugged, not looking at him.

Esposito stepped closer and gave her his best puppy dog look. “I think you are.” He said. “Or you wouldn’t have come down.”

Carmen glanced at him and then instantly wished she hadn’t. She tried to hide her smile at his stupid look.

Esposito huffed out a laugh before closing the gap between them and forcing his daughter into a hug which she tried to struggle out of only a little. “I just want what’s best for you.” He murmured.

Carmen sighed and laid her head on her Papa’s shoulder. “I know.” She said softly.

Esposito kissed her on the top of the head. “Let’s have dinner.”

He led her into the kitchen and the two of them loaded their plates and joined everyone in the living room where Xavier was picking out a movie.

“Move aside, Liam.” Esposito said, stepping closer to the couch where Liam had sat next to Ryan. “I wanna sit next to the cute guy.”

Ryan rolled his eyes but smiled as Liam scooted over to the other end of the couch to make room.

“You guys aren’t going to make out for the whole movie, are you?” Liam said, wrinkling his nose.

“Don’t give your Papa any ideas.” Ryan replied.

“Besides, we can’t kiss the whole movie. We have to eat our food first.”

“I am not kissing you, Kung Pao Chicken breath.”

“Be quiet, the movie’s starting.” Xavier scolded.

“This one again?” Carmen complained.

“I like this one.” Liam defended.

“Shhh!” Jo glared at them all.

~.~.~

_Ryan couldn’t stop smiling. From the moment he got up that morning and all through getting ready, he had a smile on his face. He didn’t even curse the morning traffic or feel annoyed when his favorite coffee shop got his coffee order wrong. Literally nothing could ruin his day._

__

_He absentmindedly played with the brand new ring on his left hand and found himself smiling again as he waited for the elevator. When he stepped inside and turned to press the button, he saw Esposito running for the elevator which he held for him._

__

_“Fancy meeting you here.” Ryan said as the elevator started to go up._

__

_Esposito reached over and intertwined their fingers, rubbing a finger over the ring on Ryan’s hand. “I’m sure it was torture the ten minutes we were separated having to take separate cars to work.”_

__

_“Well, Beckett doesn’t want us to draw too much attention to the fact that we’re sleeping together.”_

__

_“I think we’re doing more than sleeping together.”_

__

_“Oh, is that what you meant by the ring?” Ryan smiled playfully up at him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before the doors opened._

__

_Beckett let them be open about their relationship to a point. Not that she disapproved, but there were strict rules about office romances and she didn’t want them to get in trouble by her bosses. They complied with her rules because they also didn’t want her to get in trouble. And it wasn’t like the rules were terrible. They were allowed to kiss and hold hands provided they kept in mind they were in a professional environment and did their jobs accordingly._

__

_And if they sometimes did inappropriate things on Esposito’s desk when everyone had gone for the day, well no one needed to know._

__

_They held hands on their way to their desks, Castle already there looking at the murder board of their most recent case. He turned to look at them._

__

_“Do you two go anywhere without being attached?”_

__

_“Castle, Ryan and I had to sit here and live through you and Beckett doing the same thing only worse. So shut up.”_

__

_“Ryan, you’re looking especially chipper today.” Beckett said as she emerged from her office._

__

_Ryan shrugged, his smile still on his face. “It’s a good day.” He said._

__

_Esposito looked over at him and gave his hand a squeeze._

__

_Beckett gave them a look and furrowed her brow. “Guys, what’s going on?”_

__

_Ryan looked up at Esposito and shrugged slightly._

__

_“Okay, we’ll tell you, but let’s go to your office first.” Esposito said._

__

_Castle immediately jumped up and practically ran into the office while Beckett followed him, Ryan and Esposito bringing up the rear and still holding hands._

__

_“Okay, what’s going on?” Beckett asked, smiling a little. She thought she knew what was happening, and she assumed Castle was on the same page, but she wanted the boys to be the ones to say it._

__

_“Well,” Esposito looked over at Ryan. “You wanna tell them?”_

__

_Ryan bit his lip and pulled his hand away from Esposito. He then looked at Castle and Beckett. He seemed unable to say a word and he couldn’t stop smiling, so instead, he lifted his left hand up to show them._

__

_“Oh my god!” Beckett said, smiling and surging forward to give him a hug. “When did this happen?” She asked when she pulled away._

__

_“A couple nights ago.” Ryan replied as he turned to also get a hug from Castle._

__

_“A couple nights ago?” Beckett asked, coming out of her hug with Esposito._

__

_“And you’re just now telling us?” Castle asked._

__

_“Well,” Ryan shrugged. “We got engaged on Saturday, spent Sunday celebrating the engagement, and then yesterday we got a new case, there wasn’t really time to tell you.”_

__

_“You weren’t wearing your ring yesterday, though, we would have noticed.” Castle said._

__

_“I took it off and put it in my pocket.” Ryan explained. “We wanted to be able to tell you instead of you just noticing the ring.”_

__

_“Well, we’re very excited for you.” Beckett said._

__

_“And if you need any help planning the wedding…” Castle gave them a look._

__

_“I was gonna ask for your help anyway, Castle.” Ryan said, smiling at him._

__

_“We can work all that out later.” Beckett said, going back into Captain Mode. “Right now you guys have a murder to solve and I’ve gotta make some calls. But congratulations, you guys. We’re definitely going to have to celebrate this later.”_

__

_“Thanks, Captain.” Ryan and Esposito said in unison._

__

_As they headed back to their desks, they were bombarded by people wishing to offer them congratulations of their own, having figured out what the conversation was about by watching through Beckett’s windows. This is what they get being friends with detectives._

__

_After being congratulated by practically everyone, and Beckett having to come out and disperse the crowd, the boys were able to get back to their case, though it was especially difficult as the ring was a huge distraction to both of them._

__

_They’d been at it for about two hours, when Castle groaned and stood. “I need some coffee.” He announced. “Espo, you want any?”_

__

_Esposito looked up from his computer. “No, I’m good.” He said._

__

_“And what about your fiance?” He looked over at Ryan._

__

_Ryan looked up and smiled wide. “The fiance’s good too.” He said._

__

_Castle nodded and turned to go grab a cup for himself._

__

_Ryan and Esposito worked in silence for a time before Esposito spoke up. “So?” He said._

__

_Ryan looked up. “What?” He asked._

__

_“When are we going to tell them?”_

__

_Ryan sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I kinda wanted today to just be about everyone being happy, but I know waiting to tell them will just make it harder.”_

__

_Esposito stood and stepped over to his fiance. “Are you sure you want to do this? You’re sure you don’t want me to be the one who…”_

__

_“I’m sure.” Ryan nodded. “You’d go crazy. It’s better if it’s me.”_

__

_Esposito leaned down to kiss him. “If you’re sure.”_

__

_“I am.” Ryan smiled up at him. “We can tell them after work, when everyone goes home and can’t eavesdrop.”_

__

_“Okay.”_

__

_It didn’t take them long to wrap up the case. There wasn’t much to it and the evidence was about as obvious as it could get. They had the whole thing solved by two in the afternoon and the rest of the day was filled with paperwork and a bit of goofing off and some slight wedding planning._

__

_“You could get married on the moon.” Castle said as they lounged around in Beckett’s office, special perks of being the boss’ best friends._

__

_“Nice idea, Castle, but I’ve always had my heart set on getting married on Earth.” Ryan said._

__

_“How long have you been planning this wedding?” Esposito asked. “I only asked you on Saturday.”_

__

_“I haven’t been planning this wedding specifically.” Ryan shrugged. “I haven’t necessarily been planning a wedding at all. I’ve just always known I wanted to get married one day and I’ve also always known I’ve never wanted to be an astronaut.”_

__

_“But it would be so cool!” Castle protested._

__

_“We’re not getting married on the moon, Castle. Accept it.” Ryan said, smiling._

__

_“Don’t you guys have somewhere else to do this?” Beckett asked, coming into the room with yet another file to add to her cabinet._

__

_“We’re just waiting until five so we can get out of here and have celebratory drinks.” Castle said._

__

_“Did you guys already finish the paperwork on your case?” Beckett asked._

__

_“Ryan can’t sit still long enough.” Esposito said._

__

_“Don’t make this my fault.” Ryan protested. “You haven’t been able to let go of my hand all day. How the hell am I supposed to fill out reports with one hand?”_

__

_“Okay, well, we’ve got fifteen minutes left, I think I can let everyone knock off early so we can get out of here.” Beckett smiled. “This is a special occasion after all.”_

__

_As Beckett stepped out of her office to let her employees go home for the night, Esposito looked over at Ryan._

__

_“Now?” He asked._

__

_Ryan let out the breath he’d been holding. “Yeah, I guess.” He said softly._

__

_“What?” Castle asked._

__

_“Well, we have something else to tell you guys, but we want to wait until everyone leaves.” Ryan explained. “We don’t know if we want everyone to know about it yet.”_

__

_It actually didn’t take long for everyone to leave. Being told you could leave early on a Tuesday was the dream. As people packed up their things and shut down their computers, Castle bounced his leg, wondering what more they could have to say. He’d given up on making guesses as neither of the boys were giving any indication of what they had to tell them. Their silence only made it worse._

__

_Beckett shut her door and began closing the blinds as there were still a couple people out there who could eavesdrop. “What’s going on?” She asked._

__

_Ryan glanced at Esposito before turning back to his boss. “Well, Espo and I have talked about this a lot. Really, every time marriage was brought up, so was this. We actually decided this before Javi proposed.”_

__

_“What is it?” Castle asked._

__

_Ryan took a deep breath. “When Javi and I get married, it’s going to be hard to keep our relationship a secret. When the marriage is legal, it’ll have to go in our records and… we anticipate that we won’t be able to be partners anymore.”_

__

_“They can’t do that.” Castle said, outraged._

__

_“They can.” Beckett nodded in understanding. “I never disclosed their relationship because I didn’t see the need. But you’re right, Ryan, this is definitely going to create a problem.”_

__

_“So, what are we supposed to do?” Castle asked._

__

_“I think, in order to keep anyone from getting in trouble, especially Beckett… I’m quitting.” Ryan said softly._

__

_Beckett’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you sure?” She asked._

__

_“Like he said,” Esposito spoke up. “We’ve talked about this a lot. I’ve asked him if he was sure dozens of times, and he always says the same thing.”_

__

_“I think if I quit now, it’ll put some distance between my termination and the wedding, so on paper it won’t look like we had a relationship while working together.” Ryan said. “I’ve thought about this a lot, and that’s about the best solution I can come up with. This way, Beckett and Espo keep their jobs, and I can either look for something else or…”_

__

_“Or what?” Beckett asked._

__

_Ryan hesitated. “Well, we haven’t talked about it.” He looked over at Esposito. “If we ended up wanting kids, sometime in the distant future, I could stay home with them.”_

__

_Esposito couldn’t find his voice._

__

_“So, wait, you’re just going to give up being a cop?” Castle asked. “Just like that? But you love it.”_

__

_Ryan looked over at him. “I love Javi more.” He said simply. “The arrangement makes the most sense, especially with Javi making more money than I do. And I’m assuming I’ll be allowed to visit. I am good friend’s with Javi’s boss.”_

__

_Beckett smiled. “Of course.” She said, then shrugged. “It’ll just be so weird without you here as often. Not to mention how hard it’ll be to find a new partner for Esposito. But you’re right. As much as I want to keep you here, I don’t want to jeopardize all our jobs, including yours if you stayed.”_

__

_“So then what will you do?” Castle asked. “You don’t even want to transfer?”_

__

_“Well, it wouldn’t be the same working without you guys.” Ryan said. “And the job is pretty time consuming. If we end up having…” He stopped himself again. “I just think a simple job is a better option for me right now. And, like I said, the sooner I leave, the less crap Beckett will get about it, if any at all.”_

__

_Beckett hesitated. “Well, if you’re really sure about this…” She said._

__

_“I’m sure.” Ryan said._

__

_“Then I guess this is your two weeks notice?”_

__

_“Yeah, we can consider it that.”_

__

_“Here’s a thought.” Castle piped up._

__

_All three of them looked over at him._

__

_“Ryan, have you ever thought of being a Private Investigator?”_

__

_“You mean what you do?” Ryan asked. “Castle, I don’t have the money to open my own PI business. And besides that, who knows when I would ever be hired for jobs?”_

__

_“Well,” Castle said, standing and dragging his idea out for dramatic effect. “Say you had a rich friend who, in fact, owned his own PI business who just so happened to offer you a job there?”_

__

_Ryan’s eyebrows shot up. “Work for you?”_

__

_Beckett stood and smiled. “That’s not a bad idea, Castle.” She said. “Ryan, if you work for Castle, we could continue to hire Castle for cases and, as an employee of his, you could consult too.”_

__

_“Could you guys even do that?” Ryan asked. “I mean, is there even the budget to hire two outside consultants? Wait, do we pay Castle for this?”_

__

_“This is how this would work.” Castle said. “You work for me, whoever hires us will be paying me and then I’ll pay you. I can pay you really good, too. As it has been pointed out numerous times, I make a stupid amount of money.”_

__

_“I-I don’t know if I could ask you to do that.” Ryan said, doubtful._

__

_“Think about it, though.” Esposito said. “We could keep working together and no one would get in trouble. You’d have a part time job, less hours, better pay, and we could be together.”_

__

_Ryan smiled at him. “Castle, are you sure?”_

__

_“I’m literally about to add you to my payroll. I’m already paying Alexis for her help.”_

__

_“And, Beckett, will this be okay?”_

__

_“The way I see it,” Beckett said. “You can do exactly what Castle and I have been doing for years. You wouldn’t be an employee of mine, so you can date, or marry, any one of my employees. And I’d get to technically keep one of my best detectives.”_

__

_Ryan looked at all of them in turn before smiling. “Okay.” He said. “Let’s do it.”_

__

_Castle cheered. “Now let’s all continue with the plan of celebratory drinks!” He said._

__

_Beckett grabbed her coat and the boys stood, following Castle out of the office. Beckett locked the office door and then walked right beside her husband._

__

_“You guys coming?” Castle asked, noticing Ryan and Esposito standing farther behind._

__

_“We’ll meet you guys there.” Esposito said._

__

_“We’ll save you seats.” Beckett said before she and Castle stepped into the elevator._

__

_The second the doors closed, Esposito gripped Ryan’s hand and pulled him forward._

__

_“Javi, what-”_

__

_“Just stand right there.” Esposito said, turning Ryan to face their desks from where he stood close to the elevator. He then jogged over to their desks and sat in his chair, swiveling it around to face him._

__

_“What are you doing?” Ryan asked, smiling._

__

_“This is it.” Esposito said._

__

_“This is what?”_

__

_“This is where we were the first time I saw you.”_

__

_Ryan folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “I knew it would be something cheesy.”_

__

_Esposito stood and began walking toward him. “The elevator doors opened.” He said, pointing to the doors behind him. “I heard the ding and looked up. And, Kev, I swear my heart stopped.”_

__

_Ryan smiled as Esposito continued to slowly walk toward him._

__

_“I remember thinking two things.” Esposito continued. “_ God, I hope that’s my partner _and_ God, I hope that’s not my partner because I am already having dirty thoughts _.”_

__

_Ryan snorted._

__

_Esposito stepped right up to Ryan and reached out to hold his hands. “This is where it all started. Our whole story began right when you walked through those doors. And, even though I know you’ll be coming back and we’ll still be working together, it’s still a big change. We’re going from being partners on the force, to life partners. And, even though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, I’m mostly really excited that we get to be partners for the rest of our lives.”_

__

_Ryan reached up and pulled Esposito down for a kiss._

__

_When they pulled apart, Esposito looked him in the eyes. “And… about kids.”_

__

_“Oh, we don’t have to talk about that now.” Ryan said. “I wasn’t really thinking when I brought it up-”_

__

_“Yes you were.” Esposito smiled slightly. “You always knew you were going to get married, I’m assuming you always knew you wanted kids too.”_

__

_Ryan looked away but Esposito hooked a finger under his chin to force him to look back up. “I know we never talked about it, but I also have always known you wanted kids. And if I didn’t want any, I wouldn’t have proposed in the first place. Obviously we have the wedding to worry about first, but before you agree to become my spouse, I want you to know where I stand. I want kids too. I want to raise them with you. And I want our kids to grow up knowing that their parents are as in love as they were on their wedding day.”_

__

_Ryan pulled Esposito into a hug and rested his head on his shoulder. “I love you.” He said softly._

__

_“I love you too.” Esposito whispered._

__

_Ryan pulled back and then stepped to the side to look at the precinct, Esposito moving to stand behind him and wrapping his arms around Ryan’s middle. Ryan leaned into him._

__

_“You think we can do it?” Ryan asked softly._

__

_“Well, it’s legal now.” Esposito said._

__

_Ryan snorted. “I mean do you think we’ll be any good at it.” He said. “Getting married and having kids, you think we can handle it?”_

__

_“Yeah.” Esposito replied. “I’m sure of it.”_


	6. Chapter 6

“Okay, guys.” Ryan said after they’d finished watching two movies and Xavier was nodding off. “Bedtime.”

“It’s only nine.” Carmen said from her spot on the floor with Jo.

“And you have school tomorrow.” Ryan said. “Jo, you spending the night?”

“If that’s okay.” Jo said.

“Of course.” Esposito said. “You’ve already got a bunch of crap here, right? Just make sure your parents know where you are.”

Jo picked up her phone and texted her dad.

“I don’t have school tomorrow.” Liam pointed out.

“I wouldn’t advertise that.” Carmen muttered to him.

“That’s true. Because you hit someone in the face.” Ryan said. “I know we said we’re not mad at you, but your suspension isn’t going to be like a vacation. We’ll be picking up your homework and you’re going to have to do some chores. Kids who stay home don’t get to just play video games all day.”

“I’ll be honest, dad,” Liam said. “Doing homework and chores at home already sounds like a better deal than school.”

“Okay, all teenagers can stay up for one more hour in their rooms.” Esposito said. “Come on, Xavier, time for bed.”

“But I’m not tired.” Xavier mumbled as he was lifted into his father’s arms and clung to him like a monkey.

“I know.” Esposito said, stepping over the items on the floor and beginning to walk up the stairs, Xavier drooling on his shoulder.

“Why do we have to go to our rooms if we’ve been given permission to stay up?” Carmen asked.

“Papa and I want to make out and watch tv.” Ryan said simply. They all wrinkled their noses in disgust. “Everyone help clean up.” He stood and began to clear the mess from dinner.

They all stood as well and brought their own plates to the sink, throwing away unwanted food and napkins and rinsing off their plates.

“Don’t stay up too late, guys.” Ryan said. “I don’t want to have to fight with anyone in the morning.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Carmen said. “I’m always chipper in the morning.”

Ryan pulled her into a hug. “You keep telling yourself that, princess.”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Night, Dad.” She said.

“Night, baby.” Ryan kissed her on the forehead.

“See you in the morning, dad.” Liam said before heading upstairs.

“I’m not letting you sleep in too late tomorrow, just so you know!” Ryan called after him.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Carmen said. “We all know with one look Liam can get you to do anything.”

“Go to bed.” Ryan said, but he smiled.

“Night, Uncle Kevin.” Jo said.

“Goodnight, Jo.” Ryan said, turning back to the sink and taking care of the dishes while the kids jogged upstairs.

After a few minutes, he heard Esposito coming back down.

“Need any help?” Esposito asked.

“I’m almost done.” Ryan said as he started the dishwasher. “Everyone in bed?”

“Well, they’re all in their rooms.” Esposito said. “It’ll probably be a couple hours before they finally go to bed.”

Ryan followed Esposito to the couch, but instead of sitting next to him, Esposito pulled him down onto his lap before turning the tv on and switching through channels, trying to find something on that didn’t suck.

“So, you never told me,” Ryan said softly when they settled on some cop show, something they often did so they could point out all the flaws. “How was the case? Did it get solved?”

Esposito secured his hold on his husband. “Not yet.” He replied. “I, uh, wasn’t really able to focus on the case much. After getting back from Liam’s school, Beckett started asking questions and I kinda snapped at her and a few hours later she told me to go home and make sure Liam was okay, but that I better solve the damn case tomorrow.”

Ryan chuckled. “Well, let’s hope we have no problems tomorrow.”

They watched the show for a bit, every once in a while making a comment about how unrealistic it was.

Ryan snuggled closer. “Hey, Javi?” He said softly.

“Mmhm?” Javi muttered.

“When I’m seventy years old and covered in wrinkles and taking every pill known to man, will you still love me?”

Esposito smiled and tightened his hold on Ryan. “Of course.” He replied.

Ryan shifted to face him. “What about when I’m ninety and can’t climb the stairs?”

Esposito gave him a soft kiss. “I will always love you, Kevin. Forever.”

Ryan leaned in and kissed him hard, shifting again so he could get a better angle. “I’ll always love you too.” He murmured against his lips. “Forever.”

~.~.~

_Esposito hung up his phone and stood to make a note on the murder board. He was supposed to get a new partner today, but of course whoever it was was going to show up late and make him do this all by himself. Of course Beckett was helping, but it would be nice to have someone to pass grunt work on to._

__

_He stepped back to his desk and picked up his phone to make another call when he heard the ding of the elevator. He absentmindedly looked up and his dialing faltered as he stared at the man who had just walked in._

__

_The guy looked nervous. He was clutching some papers in one hand and looking around a little lost until he noticed Captain Montgomery’s office. Sidestepping a couple detectives on their way to the elevator, he made his way over to the office._

__

_Esposito watched him the whole time, not even aware that he was still holding the phone off the receiver and it was making a low beeping noise._

__

_The guy lightly rapped on the doorframe. “Captain Montgomery?” He asked._

__

_Esposito swallowed._

__

_“You must be Detective Ryan.” Montgomery said, standing and stepping around his desk to shake his hand. “Welcome to the twelfth precinct.”_

__

_“Thank you, sir.” Detective Ryan said._

__

_Esposito could now only see them through the windows of the office and the business around him made it difficult to hear, but he could make most of it out._

__

_Montgomery had taken the paper from Ryan and was handing him his badge._

__

_“Here’s your badge and your gun.” He said. “And we’ll step out here and I can introduce you to your partners.”_

__

_Esposito’s breath hitched when they stepped out of the office. Esposito was due for a new partner, but so was Karpowski. No doubt this detective would do well on Karpowski’s team, but Esposito really wanted Montgomery to lead Ryan to his desk._

__

_He let out the breath he’d been holding when Montgomery stopped at Beckett’s desk first._

__

_“Beckett,” Montgomery said as she looked up. “This is Detective Ryan, the newest member of your team. Ryan, this is Detective Kate Beckett. Lead detective, and leader of your team.”_

__

_“Nice to meet you.” Ryan said, shaking her hand._

__

_“Welcome to the team, Ryan.” Beckett said, smiling._

__

_Esposito watched as Montgomery started to walk to his desk, Ryan in tow, and immediately tried to play it cool. He realized he was still holding the phone and hung it up just as they reached his desk._

__

_“And this,” Montgomery said. “Is your new partner, Detective Esposito. Espo, this is Detective Ryan.”_

__

_Esposito stood a little too quickly, but covered it up by holding out his hand for a handshake. “Welcome to the precinct, Ryan.” He said, trying not to be mesmerized by the impossible blue color of Ryan’s eyes._

__

_Ryan gripped his hand and Esposito tried to push down the butterflies as Ryan smiled._

_**  
**“I’m looking forward to working with you, Detective Esposito.”_


End file.
